Disabled man spared full sentence by judges
Friday 08 February 2013
Printable
EmailDisabled prisoner Daniel Roque Hall, who requires round-the-clock treatment, was told he would not have to go back to jail today.
Mr Hall, 30, had been serving a three-year sentence at Wormwood Scrubs in west London after admitting smuggling 2.5kg of cocaine in his wheelchair back from a holiday in Peru.
He suffers from the rare degenerative condition Friedreich's ataxia and is not expected to live into his forties. He has spent most of his sentence in hospital.
Allowing his appeal against sentence, Court of Appeal judges Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Hickinbottom substituted the lesser term of 18 months, which means he can return to his north-west London home this week.
Lord Justice Hughes said there was no lack of punishment in what he had undergone since being sentenced last summer, and his case was "an appropriate case for an exceptional application of mercy."
If you appreciated this article then please consider donating to the Morning Star's Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep developing your paper.
Editorial
No excuse for drone killings
Foreign Minister Alistair Burt's admission that the Cameron government has "supported" a survey of attitudes to US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas amounts to a tacit admission of British involvement.
Features
The Nigel buildings rent strike
As Britain faces a new housing crisis we can learn from an occasion when tenants banded together to beat their landlord - and won new council housing
The truth about universal credit
Iain Duncan Smith's brainchild came into force at the end of last month. It's bad news for almost everyone