An assault on a police officer is generally to be regarded more seriously than resisting arrest, and a sentencing judge who characterises a charge of resisting arrest as an assault commits an error of principle warranting re-sentencing. A significant gap in an offender's criminal record may suggest that a return to crime is less likely and may provide a basis for inferring reasonable prospects of rehabilitation, but where the nature of offences before and after the gap demonstrates a continuing attitude of disobedience of the law, the record may properly be treated as an aggravating factor consistent with Veen [No 2].
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 58 later cases that cite this judgment.
20 of the 58 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.