A sentencing judge must articulate the allowance made for an offender's co-operation with police; failure to do so, where co-operation was given at personal risk and resulted in hardship, may render the sentence manifestly excessive. Co-operation given at risk to the offender and resulting in consequent hardship (such as protective custody) is of a kind to be encouraged by a reduction in sentence, even where the information provided may not ultimately have been of great use to police.
The full text is available to signed-in members.