R v Senior

Arthur Samuel Roy Senior was convicted on multiple counts of sexual offences, including rape, unlawful sexual connection, attempted rape, sexual grooming, indecent assault, making indecent publications, and supplying Class C drugs to persons under 18. The offending spanned approximately 25 years and involved nine complainants, with a tenth complainant being acquitted on all counts. The court was required to determine the appropriate sentencing for these serious sexual offences, taking into account the various culpability factors, the harm caused to the victims, and any mitigating factors.

The court assessed the culpability factors, including planning and premeditation, vulnerability of the victims, breach of trust, and the scale and period of the offending. The court also considered the harm caused to the victims, which was significant and long-lasting. The other offending, such as the supply of drugs and taking indecent photographs, was closely related to the sexual offences and was taken into account in fixing the starting point for the sentence. The court fixed a starting point of 16 years in band 3 of the unlawful sexual connection bands, considering the totality of the offending. The court made a limited reduction from the starting point to account for Senior's difficulty in comprehending the boundaries of entering into intimate relationships with young women, resulting in an end sentence of 15 years. The court also imposed a minimum period of imprisonment of one half of the sentence, considering the number of victims and the nature of the offending.

The final orders of the court were that Senior was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on each of the counts of rape and unlawful sexual connection, to 4 years imprisonment on the count of attempted rape, to 2 years imprisonment on the counts of sexual grooming, to 3 years imprisonment on each of the counts of indecent assault, to 4 years imprisonment on each of the counts of making an indecent publication, and to 6 months imprisonment on each of the counts of supplying a Class C drug. All of these terms were to be served concurrently.