A sentencing judge may not rely on matters external to the charged conduct in a manner adverse to the offender, particularly where the prosecution has specifically disavowed those matters. Where the prosecution adopts an expert report assessing the risk of reoffending as relatively low, the judge is not entitled to sentence on the basis that the risk is higher than that assessment without an evidentiary foundation. Background material is relevant to provide context for the offending but must not be treated as aggravating the offence beyond its proper scope. A sentence of 3 years and 6 months was substituted for a serious course-of-conduct blackmail involving death threats over two months against a young complainant known to the offender since birth.
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