Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Seriousness

7 (1) Section 238 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52) (deciding the seriousness of an offence) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (3)—

(a) omit “or” at the end of paragraph (a), and

(b) at the end of paragraph (b), insert—

“(c) a previous conviction by a court in a member State other than the United Kingdom of a relevant offence under the law of that State, or

(d) a finding of guilt in respect of a member State service offence.”

(3) For subsection (4) substitute—

“(4) Nothing in this section prevents the court or officer from treating—

(a) a previous conviction by a court outside both the British Islands and any member State, or

(b) a previous conviction by a court in any member State (other than the United Kingdom) of an offence which is not a relevant offence or a member State service offence,

as an aggravating factor in any case where the court or officer considers it appropriate to do so.

(5) For the purposes of this section—

(a) an offence is “relevant” if the offence would constitute an offence under the law of any part of the United Kingdom if it were done in that part at the time of the conviction in respect of the current offence,

(b) “member State service offence” means an offence which—

(i) was the subject of proceedings under the service law of a member State other than the United Kingdom, and

(ii) would constitute an offence under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, or a service offence, if it were done in any part of the United Kingdom, by a member of Her Majesty’s forces, at the time of the conviction of the defendant for the current offence, and

(c) “service law”, in relation to a member State other than the United Kingdom, means the law governing all or any of the naval, military or air forces of that State.”