SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Lord Harrower said:

“Colin Jackson, Connor McDougall, you have both been convicted of the abduction and detention of a man in his own home, during which you carried out a barbaric act of assault, mutilating his hand, and cutting off two of his fingers.  The offence is further aggravated by each of you having been on bail at the time. 

It was 16 May 2022 in Wishaw.  You were both guests in your victim’s home, where you Mr Jackson had been staying.  There were two other guests, including the victim’s brother, and a young woman.  You had been drinking and taking drugs.  What began as a convivial evening, turned nasty.  You imagined that the householder had carried out some sort of offence.  I don’t need to describe what you imagined that offence to be.  You decided to inflict a cruel and sadistic punishment upon him. 

The weapons were not produced in evidence, but the court heard from the evidence of the young woman, whom the jury must have believed, that two samurai swords, or at any rate, long knives, had been brought into the flat. 

What was clear is that you both grabbed your victim while he was sitting in his chair in the living room.  From there you dragged him into the front bedroom.  Once there, you, Mr McDougall, pinned his hand down, while he struggled to get free, while you, Mr Jackson, swung the blade, slicing off two of his fingers.  Then, as he was trying to get away, you, Mr Jackson, punched him, causing him to fall to the ground, striking his head against the floor.

The abduction and detention were an important part of the narrative or background to this offence.  Indeed, the evidence of the young woman was that no one was allowed to leave, and that you left the property, locking it behind you. 

I assess the level of culpability of each of you for this horrific crime as very high.  It was a planned attack in the victim’s own home, carried out under the influence of drink and drugs.  Although the victim of your crime claimed not to be able to remember what had happened to him, on any objective view of the evidence, the level of harm was also high.

You have partially dismembered his hand.  He will be permanently disfigured and permanently impaired in the carrying out of everyday tasks.  The sentencing purposes of protection of the public, punishment and expressing disapproval of offending behaviour all point to the need to impose a significant custodial sentence. 

Both of you have parents or families who will be affected by the sentence I require to impose on you.  They have taken an active interest in these proceedings, which is very much to their credit.  The hurt that you will have caused them and will continue to cause them is something for which you will also have to take responsibility. 

Mr Jackson, you have been a prolific offender since the age of 16, although your offending has been mainly confined to road traffic offences, drugs offences and crimes of dishonesty.  I accept that, in respect of one serious offence, brought to court on indictment in 2022, the reference in your record to that offence having been carried out with a knife was in error.

On the other hand you do have a previous conviction for carrying an offensive weapon, and your record contains references to a metal pole, a baseball bat, a bottle, and a hammer.  Having carried out a risk assessment, the author of the CJSWR concludes that you present a “maximum risk” to the public.  However, I accept also that you have shown genuine remorse for your behaviour, and accepted your guilt for the assault, if not for the abduction and detention, at an early stage in these proceedings. 

Mr Jackson, I am satisfied, having regard to your record, the gravity of the crime which you have committed, and the risk assessment, that the period for which you would otherwise have been on licence would not be adequate to protect the public from serious harm from you when you are eventually released.

For that reason, I am going to impose on you an extended sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, with a custodial term of 7 years (6 months of which is attributable to the bail aggravation), and an extension period of 3 years.  This custodial term will be backdated to 18 May 2022, when you were first remanded in custody.  But this period in custody is not the end of your sentence. The second part of your sentence will be served in the community. The conditions of your licence will be fixed by the Scottish Ministers. If, during this extension period, you fail to comply with the conditions of your licence, it may be revoked; and you may be returned to custody for a further period in respect of this case. The court also has power to deal with you if you commit another offence after your release and while you are on licence.

Mr McDougall, I accept that you have managed to display some degree of insight into the impact this incident will have had on your victim. But you have a prolific record of offending.  You have received several custodial sentences.  Your record contains a number of analogous convictions for assault and assault to severe injury, though I accept that the most recent of these, prior to the present matter, occurred in 2013.  Your record shows that you have carried a sword in the past, and used a knife in one of your assaults.  You too have been assessed as presenting a maximum risk to the public.

Mr McDougall, I am satisfied, having regard to your record, the gravity of the crime which you have committed and the risk assessment, that the period for which you would otherwise have been on licence would not be adequate to protect the public from serious harm from you when you are eventually released. 

For that reason, I will impose on you an extended sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, with a custodial term of 7 years  (6 months of which are attributable to the bail aggravation) and an extension period of 3 years.  However, I need to take account of the fact that you have been on remand since 19 May 2022.  351 days of that period are attributable to this offence, the rest being attributable to a sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment in another matter imposed on 5 May 2023. 

One approach adopted to deal with this is outlined in the recent appeal of Gibson v HMA, 15 Aug 2023, being to deduct the 351 days from the custodial element of the extended sentence, and postdate the sentence so that it starts at the conclusion of the sentence currently being served.  The alternative is set out in the case of O’Doherty, where the court notionally backdated the sentence to take account of the period spent on remand. 

I am persuaded by Mr Neilson to adopt the latter approach, which he accepted requires in this case the deduction of a period of 53 days (being the period still to run on your current sentence) from the 351 days spent on remand, and backdating the sentence by the net figure.  That results is a start date of 19 May 2023. Accordingly, that is the date from which the extended sentence will run.  

As in the case of Mr Jackson, I emphasise that the period spent in custody is not the end of your sentence. The second part of your sentence will be served in the community. The conditions of your licence will be fixed by the Scottish Ministers. If, during this extension period, you fail to comply with the conditions of your licence, it may be revoked; and you may be returned to custody for a further period in respect of this case. The court also has power to deal with you if you commit another offence after your release and while you are on licence.”

12 March 2014