Where co-offenders in a drug trafficking enterprise are convicted of different offences carrying significantly different maximum penalties (here, trafficking in a commercial quantity versus trafficking simpliciter), the difference in maximum penalties may of itself be sufficient to preclude a justifiable sense of grievance under the parity principle. A sentencing judge may have regard to the quantities of drugs handled by an offender for the purpose of assessing their position in a syndicate hierarchy without thereby sentencing them for a more serious uncharged offence.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 5 later cases that cite this judgment.