Armed Forces Act 2001

Army Act 1955 (c. 18) and Air Force Act 1955 (c. 19)

1 (1) Section 70 of the Army Act 1955 (civil offences) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (3) before paragraph (b) there is inserted—

“(ac) if he is a person to whom subsection (3B), (3E) or (3G) below applies, be sentenced in accordance with the subsection in question;”.

(3) For subsection (3A) there is substituted—

“(3A) Subsection (3B) below applies to a person convicted of an offence against this section if—

(a) the corresponding civil offence is a serious offence, and

(b) at the time when the offence against this section was committed, he was 18 or over and had been convicted—

(i) of a serious offence, or

(ii) of an offence against this section, section 70 of the Air Force Act 1955 or section 42 of the Naval Discipline Act 1957 constituted by a civil offence which is a serious offence.

(3B) The court-martial shall sentence the person to imprisonment for life, unless it is of the opinion that there are exceptional circumstances relating to either of the offences or to the offender which justify its not doing so.

(3C) An offence the sentence for which is imposed under subsection (3B) above shall not be regarded as an offence the sentence for which is fixed by law.

(3D) Subsection (3E) below applies to a person convicted of an offence against this section if—

(a) the corresponding civil offence is a class A drug trafficking offence,

(b) at the time when the offence against this section was committed, he was 18 or over and had been convicted of two other offences each of which is either—

(i) a class A drug trafficking offence, or

(ii) an offence against this section, section 70 of the Air Force Act 1955 or section 42 of the Naval Discipline Act 1957 constituted by a civil offence which is a class A drug trafficking offence, and

(c) one of those other offences was committed after he had been convicted of the other.

(3E) The court-martial shall sentence the person to imprisonment for a term of at least seven years, unless it is of the opinion that there are particular circumstances which—

(a) relate to any of the offences or to the offender, and

(b) would make it unjust to do so in all the circumstances.

(3F) Subsection (3G) below applies to a person convicted of an offence against this section if—

(a) the corresponding civil offence is a domestic burglary,

(b) at the time when the offence was committed he was 18 or over and had been convicted of two other offences each of which is either—

(i) a domestic burglary in respect of which he was convicted in England and Wales, or

(ii) an offence against this section, section 70 of the Air Force Act 1955 or section 42 of the Naval Discipline Act 1957 constituted by a civil offence which is a domestic burglary, and

(c) one of those other offences was committed after he had been convicted of the other, and both of them were committed after 30th November 1999.

(3G) The court-martial shall sentence the person to imprisonment for a term of at least three years unless it is of the opinion that there are particular circumstances which—

(a) relate to any of the offences or to the offender, and

(b) would make it unjust to do so in all the circumstances.

(3H) Where an offence is found to have been committed over a period of two or more days, or at some time during a period of two or more days, it shall be taken for the purposes of subsections (3A), (3D) and (3F) above to have been committed on the last of those days.”

(4) After subsection (6) there is inserted—

“(7) In this section—

• “class A drug trafficking offence” has the same meaning as in section 110 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000;

• “domestic burglary” has the same meaning as in section 111 of that Act;

• “serious offence” has the same meaning as in section 109 of that Act.”