How (not) to sentence rape of a “particularly vulnerable” victim: a critical examination of the Crown appeal against sentence in HM Advocate v MG — Part 3: the appeal court’s misapplication of the English guidelines on sentencing rape

In the third in a series of four articles on the decision in HM Advocate v MG [2023] HCJAC 3; 2023 J.C. 68; 2023 S.L.T. 232; 2023 S.C.C.R. 97, an unsuccessful Crown appeal against sentence in which the appeal court upheld the respondent’s sentence of four years’ imprisonment for rape, the author considers the importance of certain key ‘harm factors’ under the English sentencing guidelines which featured in the case, and the extent to which the appeal court’s decision in HM Advocate v MG was based on an incomplete reading, and erroneous understanding, of the English guidelines on sentencing rape.