The Court of Appeal is to revisit controversial indeterminate IPP cases following the decision by the miscarriage of justice watchdog to refer five cases. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) yesterday sent five people’s IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection) and DPP (Detention for Public Protection) sentences to the Court of Appeal after the court recently quashed indeterminate sentences imposed on other men at a similarly young age. The five new referrals include one person who was convicted 17 years ago and who was 15 years old with a minimum tariff of two years. IPP sentences were intended for serious offenders who were considered dangerous to the public – DPPs were similar indeterminate sentences imposed on people under 18 – and were abolished in 2012; but serving IPP prisoners have not been freed from the terms imposed on them before abolition
The five referrals arise from work done by the CCRC to examine the possible implications for other cases arising from the Court of Appeal decisions in the cases of Leighton Williams [2024], Darren Hilling [2024], and Steven Sillitto [2025] who were young adults when they were sentenced. In quashing the sentences, the court concluded that the sentencing judges had failed to attach the necessary weight to the age and maturity of the offender before imposing an indeterminate sentence.
According to the CCRC, the sentences in all five new cases were imposed on relatively young men, more than 15 years ago, none with a tariff over three and a half years. In three of those, imposed almost 20 years ago, the highest tariff was a year and nine months. All five men remain in prison.
‘The CCRC has set up a special project group, following the Hilling, Williams and Sillitto decisions because the principle set out there seems likely to be applicable to other people still on IPPs or DPPs,’ explained CCRC chair Dame Vera Baird KC said.
‘For many years there has not been such a possibility for such people. So, we have set up a focussed team of case review managers and a specialist standing committee of Commissioners to ensure specialist experience and expertise in both investigation and decision-making for these cases. We are currently receiving an average of 16 IPP/DPP cases a month and about 110 cases are on our stocks for review. We have also begun a search of earlier IPP/DPP cases which came to us but were not referred to the courts to see if the new cases might have an impact also on them. ‘
‘I am pleased we have already been able to refer the sentences of these five people,’ she continued. ‘The judgments that have been made recently by the Court of Appeal provide an important opportunity to try to help other young people who were in similar circumstances at the time of their conviction and who received sentences of this kind. Anyone else in a similar situation and who – importantly – has exhausted their appeal rights is free to get in touch with us.’
The five sentences referred include Benjamin Hibbert, convicted of three counts of sexual assault at Preston Crown Court in December 2009 – sentenced to DPP with a minimum tariff of two years. He was aged 15 or 16 at the time of the offences. Stuart O’Neill was convicted of rape at Manchester Crown Court in October 2009. He was sentenced to IPP with a minimum term of three years and six months. He applied for leave to appeal his sentence, but it was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in March 2010. He was aged 20 when he was sentenced. Jay Davis was convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence in Portsmouth Crown Court in October 2006. He was sentenced to IPP with a minimum term of nine-months. He was 19 at the time of the offence. Luke Ings was convicted of two counts of robbery and two counts of battery at East Berkshire Youth Court in March 2006. He was sentenced at the Crown Court to DPP with a minimum term of one year nine months minus 81 days on remand. He was 17 at the time of the offence. James Ward was convicted of arson and criminal damage in June 2006 at Leicester Magistrates’ Court and was sentenced at Leicester Crown Court. He was sentenced to one year minus 63 days on remand. He was 20 at the time of the offence. The cases of Hibbert, O’Neill and Davis are being referred to the Court of Appeal, and Ings’ and Ward’s cases to the Crown Court.
