October 19

How to Appeal against a conviction


We are delighted to confirm that, the Court of Appeal reviewed our client’s sentence for theft and reduced his sentence from 4 years to 3 years imprisonment. Tim Gir, Criminal Solicitor and our senior partner, said “our client had previously pleaded guilty to theft of £53,000 from his employer. He was in a position of trust and a substantial sentence of imprisonment was inevitable. His family approached us because they felt the sentence was very harsh despite what he had done. We agreed and began to look into the circumstances. With the help of a very experienced Barrister, Grounds of Appeal were prepared and an application was made to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal out of time against the sentence. This was granted and a full hearing took place before the Court this week. This resulted in the sentence being substituted for a total term of 3 years.”

This means a substantial reduction in the amount of time our client will spend in prison. It is possible to appeal against sentence and also to appeal out of time, but there must be good reason. You cannot just appeal from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal without permission of a single judge of the Court of Appeal or the full Court of Appeal. Your appeal must be backed up with good reasons. This is done by an application to the Registrar of the Court of Appeal. The application is then put before a Single Judge who will decide to grant leave or not. If the Single Judge refuses leave then you can still go ahead but you could lose the time you already spent in prison if the full court decide your decision to proceed with your appeal was wholly wrong.

Tim Gir

Senior Partner

We Are Leading Essex Litigation Solicitors

Based in Billericay, Essex, Sanders Witherspoon are leading solicitors in the fields of litigation including appealing convictions.

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