Jason Laguea, the Gibraltar Paedophile, imprisoned for the rape of a child, back in 2020, has had his 20-year sentence lowered by five years by the Court of Appeal, which rejected a concurrent attempt to overturn the conviction.
Jason Laguea was incarcerated last year after a Supreme Court jury convicted him of five previous sexual assault charges against a minor during a retrial.
Jason Laguea filed an appeal to reverse the conviction, which was dismissed by Court of Appeal justices Sir Maurice Kay, Dame Janet Smith, and Sir Patrick Elias, as per a ruling released yesterday.
Jason Laguea also contested the 20-year sentence handed down by Puisne Judge Karen Ramagge Prescott for the charges.
Mrs Justice Ramagge Prescott imposed a sentence on Jason Laguea above the upper limit of the standard range of 11 to 17 years established for offences of this sort.
The decision to augment the sentence was predicated on the gravity of the offences, which Mrs Justice Ramagge Prescott said warranted wider latitude for extended terms allowed under “exceptional” circumstances.
The Court of Appeal determined that, although Mrs Justice Ramagge Prescott appropriately imposed a sentence exceeding the first benchmark of 13 years, the appropriate prison term should have adhered to the range specified in the guidelines.
The judgment stated, “While the offences in this case were undeniably heinous and deplorable, we do not believe the Judge was justified in imposing a sentence exceeding the 11 to 17 years range.”
The frequent and persistent character of the offences, in our opinion, does not qualify as an uncommon case that can accurately be termed a campaign of rape.
“We believe the Judge lacked the authority to impose a sentence beyond the Guidelines.”
The Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction but mitigated the sentence to 15 years.
Ian Winter, QC, and Christopher Finch acted as legal representatives for Jason Laguea.
Christian Rocca, QC, and Cecile Gomez represented the Crown.
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