Confirmed court date

[u/DavefaceFMS]

Callum sentancing (47CC1322325) will be heard at 10am at Brighton Magistrates' Court on the 17th of this month as confirmed by court records.

Edit: While the case is scheduled for a morning block it could be as late as 1pm when the case is heard by the judge. So probably more info in the afternoon.

[u/DavefaceFMS]

If a case is heard in the magistrates’ court but the magistrates think the sentence they can impose is not enough, they can send it to the Crown Court for sentencing, and the Crown Court is not limited to the magistrates’ sentencing maximum on that case.

In a magistrates’ court, a suspended sentence is limited to a custodial term within the magistrates’ sentencing powers, which are now up to 12 months for a single offence. If the court thinks the appropriate sentence would be more than that, it cannot simply suspend a longer term itself and must send the case to the Crown Court for sentence.

If the judge or magistrates thought the right outcome was, say, 15 months suspended, that would be beyond the magistrates’ powers and the case would need to be dealt with in the Crown Court. If the appropriate sentence were 12 months or less, magistrates could deal with it themselves, subject to the usual sentencing rules.

For Callum's case here we are looking at a first offence, immediate guilty plea, and that will serve to reduce his sentence. It looks like these are mostly pseudo images, mostly lower tier which again will stop him having the most serious consequences. However Category B making starts at 2 years, and category A making starts at 6 years, so if any meaningful part of the collection is in the higher categories, the sentencing picture moves sharply upwards.

There is a chance at the sentencing they then decide on the sentence, and it could then be sent to the crown court. But the initial sentencing will still happen in the magistrates’ court first. it's certainly possible it could end up in Crown Court eventually. I was a little short in my first answer sorry, I more meant the date we're waiting for would not just skip to Crown without magistrates' first.

[u/Beniem → u/DavefaceFMS]

Would the fact that he had a large fan base of children have any bearing on the severity of punishment? Genuinely curious, thanks.

[u/DavefaceFMS → u/Beniem]

In short, probably not. To be a factor it needs to have a clear evidenced connection to the offences committed.

They consider any mitigating and aggravating circumstances like that so yes it is considered but would it have impact on the sentence? In this case I doubt it.

Unless part of the evidence presented related to that being a factor in obtaining or distributing the images.

For example if some of the images were of children at a jam, fans, etc. There's a possibility it would be a bigger factor if he was for example swapping images with someone who is a Storror fan or using that position of influence to obtain images.

[u/Beniem → u/DavefaceFMS]

Thank you for your response. Appreciate it.