Court of Appeal Success: Draycott Browne Defends Rape Sentencing Reference
In January 2026, we were instructed to represent AHL, who, on 18th December 2025, had appeared at Isleworth Crown Court (for sentence) in relation to offences including rape and controlling or coercive behaviour, offences in respect of which he had been convicted after trial, on 16th September 2025.
We were instructed to represent AHL in relation to his intended appeal against conviction and also to defend an application by His Majesty's Solicitor General to have the 8 year prison sentence in AHL's case increased, on the basis that it was "unduly lenient".
AHL was fortunate to be in a position to engage the services of our Mr. Draycott on a private fee-paying basis and he, in turn, recruited David Emanuel KC and Alex Rose, both of Garden Court Chambers, London, to join the defence team.
Throughout the early months of 2026, meticulous levels of care and attention were paid to AHL's case, not least because of the immediate danger that the lengthy sentence of imprisonment in his case might be increased.
It was to be argued by the Solicitor General that the sentencing Judge had afforded AHL too much credit for the fact that he was a man of positive good character and, perhaps more particularly, that there ought not to have been a departure from the relevant sentencing guideline to take account of the fact that AHL's case had involved the issue of "conditional consent" rape.
At trial, the prosecution conceded that upon the night in question, the Complainant had been willing to have sexual intercourse with AHL but strictly on the condition that he wore a condom. When he did not, it was argued, an offence of rape had been committed because the condition upon which consent to intercourse had been provided had been breached.
On 8th May 2026, at a hearing before The Royal Courts of Justice, the Solicitor General argued that for the purposes of sentencing in cases such as that of AHL, there ought not to be a distinction between cases that involve "conditional consent" and those which don't. Indeed, in her written application for permission to refer the sentence in AHL's case to the Court of Appeal, the Solicitor General submitted that his "deliberate failure to wear a condom meant that the sexual intercourse became a non-consensual act and so is no less serious than any other form of rape".
In the course of making our submissions to the Court of Appeal, we disagreed with the Solicitor General, observing that whilst all offences of rape are serious, those that involve an element of "conditional consent" ought to attract shorter sentences than those that don't.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeal accepted that the sentencing Judge in AHL's case had been entitled to make a reduction in the sentence that would otherwise have been appropriate to take account of the "conditional consent" element of it and it follows that the Solicitor General's application failed and the sentence to be served by AHL remains one of 8 years.
AHL's ability to privately engage our Mr. Draycott's services led to exceptional efforts being made upon his behalf in the opening months of 2026. Lengthy conferences took place and the many discussions between the legal team focused upon the sensitivity of the case and the requirement for carefully crafted and delivered submissions being made.
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