The sentencing 'rule' or 'practice' that serious social security fraud ordinarily requires a custodial sentence with a period actually to be served may not apply where the offender is a government employee acting altruistically rather than a claimant defrauding the system, particularly where there is no evidence that such offending is prevalent. Even where a sentence is manifestly inadequate, a Crown appeal may fail where double jeopardy and delay mean the difference between the original and re-sentence would be minimal. An experienced sentencing judge's exercise of mercy in unusual circumstances, accepted as such by the Crown, will not lightly be disturbed on appeal.
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