SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lord Scott made the following remarks in court:

"You have both pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Garry Black on 27 February 2023 at George Street, Aberdeen. Although you may each have played different roles and carried out different actions, you have both pleaded guilty on what is known as an art and part basis. This means that you acted together and are each responsible not only for your own actions but for the actions of the other.

This means that you are both responsible for assaulting Mr Black by driving a motor vehicle at him, mounting the pavement, striking him with the vehicle and causing him to be carried on the bonnet until you brought the vehicle to a sudden halt at which point he was thrown to the ground. You pursued him, repeatedly attempted to strike him with a wheel wrench or similar implement, kicked him on the body, repeatedly drove the motor vehicle at him and again struck him on the body with the motor vehicle all to his injury.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is no Victim Impact Statement in this case.  The precise extent of the harm caused is therefore uncertain. What is certain is that you carried out this serious attack in broad daylight at a busy time of day on a public street when there were many innocent members of the public nearby. What is also certain is that the consequences for Mr Black could easily have been severe and fatal.

Before passing sentence, although I did not require to do so in view of your previous convictions, I decided to obtain a Criminal Justice Social Work Report.  This was with a view to determining if an extended sentence was necessary to protect the public from serious harm from you.

The reports have provided me with information about your backgrounds as well as your account of what happened that day.  They confirm that you were both heavily under the influence of drugs when you assaulted Mr Black.  As you know, and as acknowledged by your counsel, that offers you no excuse or mitigation at all.

Much of the account of events given by you both can only be seen as an attempt to minimise and deflect responsibility for what you did individually and together. It may be that excessive consumption of a class A drug and lack of sleep have hampered a clearer recollection. For the avoidance of doubt, I proceed on the basis of the narrative agreed on your behalf as opposed to any more self-serving account.

In view of your attempts to minimise or deflect, your expressions of regret and remorse are rather unconvincing.

I have been provided with information about you and your backgrounds, including childhood traumas and significant addiction issues. Your addiction issues are, as is often the case, associated with mental health problems. It seems to me that, unless and until you address your addiction issues, the risk of you re-offending will remain high. I encourage both of you to accept any help available to you while you are in custody. Unlike past efforts which have fallen away, it is very much in your interests and the interests of the public that you engage fully and for as long as it takes to do so successfully. You will have enough time in custody and on supervision thereafter to do so.

You are, respectively, 30 and 41 years old. You both have lengthy schedules of previous convictions which include serious violence, convictions on indictment and previous custodial sentences.

It is clear from your previous convictions and the serious nature of the present offence, that you both pose a risk of serious harm to the public, even if that means only those against whom you have some sort of grudge. The CJSWRs reinforce this view, assessing both of you at a maximum level of risk and needs. A period of post-release supervision is thought likely to be of some benefit to you although the relevant test for an extended sentence is the need to protect the public from serious harm as opposed to something that might benefit the accused.

In short, I have considered all that is said in the Criminal Justice Social Work Reports and all that has been said today on your behalf by your counsel.  The main consideration in sentencing is the violent and unprovoked nature of this offence.  In mitigation, the main consideration is the pleas of guilty which allowed the case to be resolved without a trial.

Having regard to the whole circumstances of the case, only a custodial sentence is appropriate.  It is necessary to punish you and to seek to deter you and others from behaving in this way and in particular to protect the public from you.

Having reflected carefully on all of the circumstances, in particular the serious nature of the charge, the established and entrenched behaviour and the insights in the criminal justice social work report, in my judgement the normal period of licence would not be enough to protect the public from serious harm from either of you.  Accordingly I consider that the custodial sentence in both cases should be by way of an extended sentence.

Although there are differences in your previous convictions, both of you have offended seriously in the past and I intend to make no distinction between you.

The custodial sentence in each case will be an extended sentence of 9 years.  The length of the custodial term of that extended sentence is 6 years with a 3 year extension period for the duration of which you will be under licence on conditions fixed by the Scottish Ministers.  If during this extension period you fail to comply with the conditions of your licence it may be revoked by the Scottish Ministers and you may be returned to custody for a further period.

If you had been convicted of this charge after trial, the custodial term of the sentence would have been 8 years. I have reduced that period by 2 years to take account of the timing of your plea of guilty.

You each have unexpired portions of your last sentences. This is because you committed this serious offence within a relatively short time of release from custody. I could increase the time you spend in custody for that reason but, as I am not going to backdate your sentences, I will not do so.

In your case, Mr Binnie, as you were serving another sentence from 8 March 2023, the sentence will date from 5 March 2024 when you tendered the plea of guilty. In your case, Mr Hanratty, you have been served another sentence from 28 July 2023 for a matter in respect of which I am told you may also have been on remand. I will therefore also order that the sentence I impose today will date from 5 March 2024.

In each case, as a motor vehicle was used as an intrinsic part of the offence, in terms of section 248 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, I will disqualify you from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of 15 years.”