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 William Budge
Feb 5, 2025
On sentencing, Lord Lake said:
"William Budge, you pled guilty to three offences – a single instance of assault in 2016 / 2017, a course of domestic abuse over a period of more than 5 years and attempted murder of your wife.
Your conduct in the attempted murder was caught on video and is quite horrifying to watch. You used your car as a weapon and drove it at and over your wife. Having done this, you made a U-Turn and went back and drove over her a second time
The callousness and cruelty of your acts are astonishing.
There can be no doubt that you showed complete indifference as to whether your conduct killed her.
Having seen the footage, as was recognised by Mr Stewart on your behalf, it is remarkable that your wife was not killed.
She suffered serious life threatening injuries including internal injuries and skeletal injuries which meant she was in hospital for two months
I have considered the victim impact statement from your wife and it is clear that she still suffers both physically and mentally and, although she has taken advantage of various therapies and treatments, it seems she will continue to do so for some time.
All this is aggravated by the fact it was an attack on your partner and I will reflect that in the sentence.
Obviously the last charge is by far the most serious but that should not undermine the seriousness of the other two
As Mr Stewart pointed out, you have no previous convictions. You suffered poor mental health prior to the attack. You have accepted your guilt and expressed remorse. You have pled guilty at an early stage avoiding the further trauma for your wife and family that would flow from a trial and the preparation for it.
Regardless of this, it is necessary that the sentence should mark the abhorrence of your behaviour and its serious consequences.
In relation to charge 1 of assault, had there been no plea the sentence would be 9 months which is increased from 6 months to mark the domestic aggravation. This is modified back to 6 months to reflect your guilty plea.
In relation to charge 2, if there had been no plea, the sentence would be 12 months but this is modified to 8 months to reflect the plea.
In relation to the charge of attempted murder, looking at the situation as if there had been no plea and there was no domestic aggravation, I would have imposed a sentence of 8 years. The domestic aggravation means this should be increased to 11 years. That is in turn modified to reflect the guilty plea to become 7 years and 4 months.
These sentences will be concurrent and are all backdated to 16 April 2024.
Finally I make a Non-Harassment Order prohibiting you from contacting or attempting to contact your wife, directly or indirectly, by any means for a period 15 years."