The Court of Criminal Appeal held that a difference of one year in the pre-discount starting point between co-offenders sentenced for joint criminal enterprise murder did not constitute a gross, marked, or glaring disparity giving rise to a justifiable sense of grievance, where the substantial difference in final sentences was explained by the co-offender's 25% guilty plea discount and a finding of special circumstances not available to the applicant. The Court also held that where a sentencing judge expressly took account of COVID-19 hardship in custody as part of the overall sentencing exercise, declining to make a separate finding of special circumstances on that same basis did not constitute House v The King error, particularly where no submission was made and no evidence adduced regarding the future impact of COVID-19 on custodial conditions.
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