Delay of over three years between charging and sentence must be taken into account as a mitigating factor in sentencing, even where the delay is attributable to the complexity of the police investigation and the prosecuting authorities cannot be criticised. The significance of delay as a sentencing factor does not depend on whether there is a satisfactory explanation for the delay. A sentencing judge is not required to mitigate sentence for the effects of an automatic forfeiture order under the Confiscation Act 1997 where the likely outcome of an exclusion application cannot be assessed; it is incumbent on the offender to adduce evidence of the likely effects of forfeiture.
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