An offender's desistance from further penetration during a sexual assault, where the offender nevertheless proceeds to commit a further sexual offence (indecent assault), may properly be regarded by a sentencing judge as only partial desistance and does not necessarily constitute a very significant mitigating factor. A sentencing judge is entitled to characterise fabricated explanations given in a police interview as a 'concocted web of lies' where the record of interview reveals multiple false alibis, contradictory statements, and fabricated accounts.
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