SENTENCING STATEMENTS

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When deciding a sentence, a judge must deal with the offence that the offender has been convicted of, taking into account the unique circumstances of each particular case. The judge will carefully consider the facts that are presented to the Court by both the prosecution and by the defence.

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Read more about victims of crime and sentencing.

HMA v James Ramsay

Jan 7, 2025

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Tait sentenced James Ramsay to a 3 year Community Payback Order after the offender pled guilty to sexual assault, stalking and communicating indecently. Ramsay was also made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for a period of 3 years.

On sentencing, Judge Tait said:

"James Ramsay, on 28 November 2024, at the High Court at Glasgow you were convicted of two charges of sexual assault, two charges of communicating indecently and two charges of stalking. At an earlier trial diet, you pled guilty to one charge of sending grossly offensive messages and one charge of disclosing an intimate photograph. Three of these eight charges were aggravated by involving abuse of a partner.

These offences were committed against five complainers.

I have read carefully the Victim Impact Statement provided and am grateful that it has been completed. I am mindful of the ongoing impact from your offending behaviour.

You are aged 30.

You have previous convictions dating from 2012 in relation to assault and assault to injury, threatening or abusive behaviour (involving a knife) and culpable and reckless fireraising. You served custodial sentences in respect of each of these. I acknowledge that you have no previous conviction for sexual offending.

I acknowledge your relative youth at the outset of these offences.

I have listened carefully to what Mr Gilbride has said on your behalf this morning and take all of the points advanced in mitigation into account in determining a suitable sentence in your case. I have given careful consideration to the criminal justice social work report and the assessment of your suitability to participate in the Moving Forward 2 Change Programme.

The author of the criminal justice social work report prepared for today’s hearing assesses you as demonstrating a high likelihood of future sexual reconviction. You have been assessed as suitable for the Moving Forward 2 Change Programme. The programme would take account of your individual treatment needs and you would be assessed continuously throughout the programme.

I accept that the offences of which you were convicted are of significantly less gravity than those you faced. Nonetheless, these are serious offences and they were directed on occasion against teenage children and vulnerable adults.

I am satisfied that these offences taken together reach the threshold of a custodial sentence. However, you spent slightly in excess of two years on remand and have been subject to a curfew bail condition from September 2023. Taking into account that period on remand, I am satisfied that there is an alternative to a custodial sentence.

I propose to impose a community payback order for a period of three years.

The community payback order will require you to undertake a number of requirements which I shall explain to you. You should listen carefully as I shall ask you firstly to confirm that you understand the terms of the order and secondly, that you are willing to comply with the order.

I am satisfied that the offences are serious enough to warrant my imposition of this order for the reasons I have explained.

I shall impose a Programme requirement that will require you to undertake the Moving Forward 2 Change Programme. You must comply with any instruction given to you by the responsible officer or social worker. This requirement is imposed for the purpose of addressing your offending behavioural needs.

Also, you must undertake a Conduct requirement in the following terms:

You will not approach or communicate in any way, or attempt to approach or communicate in any way, either directly or indirectly, with any child who you know or should have reasonable cause to believe to be under the age of 16 without prior approval of your supervising officer from Criminal Justice Social Work Department, and subject to any restrictions that your supervising officer may impose and you will immediately report any unavoidable or inadvertent approach or communication in any way to your supervising officer.
You will not own or possess more than one mobile phone and more than one computer (whether desktop, laptop, tablet or otherwise), games console, smart watch, smart TV or similar equipment capable of accessing the internet without advising your supervising officer of the serial number of that device and any passwords for the device and you will not use any such device until you have received confirmation from your supervising officer that he or she has received such serial numbers and passwords, subject to any restrictions that your supervising officer may impose.
You will not access the internet using any other device without the express written approval of your supervising officer and subject to any restrictions your supervising officer may impose.
You will not use any telephone number or email address without advising your supervising officer of that number or address, subject to any restrictions your supervising officer may impose.
You will not install any third-party application on any such device without the prior approval and subject to any restrictions your supervising officer may impose.
You will not use encryption on any such device for any purpose.
You will not delete any search histories or use incognito tab or private browsing mode on any such devices used by you and any browser used by you must record internet history.
You will not access or otherwise use in any way any internet social networking site without the prior approval of your supervising officer and subject to any restrictions that your supervising officer may impose.
You will allow monitoring of such devices as directed by your supervising officer.
You will allow your supervising officer, or others acting on his or her instructions or with his or her consent, to inspect any such devices used by you when requested to do so, with or without advance notice.

I am satisfied that this requirement is necessary with a view to securing or promoting good behaviour, to prevent you from further offending and to manage the risks posed by you, particularly in relation to activity online.

I shall also impose an Offender Supervision requirement for a period of three years. During this period you must attend appointments with your responsible officer at the place and times instructed, for the purposes of promoting your rehabilitation and good behaviour.

While the order is in force, you should report any change to your address and the times that you work if you are working to your responsible officer.

If you fail to comply with any of the requirements that are being imposed in this order, you will be reported back to this court and be dealt with for that failure. The Court will either issue a warrant for your arrest or you will be cited to come to court.

If it is proved that you failed to comply without reasonable excuse with the terms of any requirement, the court can revoke the order and sentence you to imprisonment.

This order is a sentence. If your circumstances change while the order is in force, you or your supervising officer will be entitled to apply to the court to have the order varied, revoked or discharged.

Do you understand?

Do you agree to comply with the requirements of this order?

The Clerk will provide you with a copy of the Order in court.

Further, in respect of charges 1, 3, 4, 5 and 12 you will be subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for a three year period. I have certified that charge 12 has a significant sexual element.

Finally, to protect each of the complainers from harassment, I shall make a non-harassment order prohibiting you from approaching or contacting the complainers, or attempting to do so, for a period of 20 years."