We looked in September at the case of Lavinia Woodward, the Oxford medical student who received a suspended sentence for stabbing her ex-boyfriend.
The sentence caused quite a lively debate, both here and generally, as to whether it was indicative of the fact that women tended to get more lenient treatment from the Courts.
Our view was that the sentence passed was “well within the range of what we would expect” and that given her personal circumstances, there were plenty of reasons to suspend the sentence.
Well, we shall find out soon what the higher courts make of it all as we found out on 7th December 2017 that Ms Woodward has lodged grounds to appeal her sentence.
It’s still early days – it seems that it is at the initial application stage – we will keep our eye on it and see what happens when it is considered.
But here’s our factsheet on how appeals in criminal cases are determined.