A sentencing judge's misstatement of the maximum penalty for an offence does not necessarily require appellate intervention where the overall sentences, assessed against total criminality under ss 6(3) and 7(1A) of the Criminal Appeal Act, afford appropriate punishment. The wrongful attribution of a criminal record to an offender does not occasion a miscarriage where the sentencing judge could not properly have been influenced by it. Sentencing judges should deliver reasons orally rather than only in written form.
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