".... Under the new Guideline there are likely to be increased sentence lengths for those guilty of large-scale production offences and reduced sentence lengths for drug mules. Sentences for drug mules -- who are usually vulnerable and exploited by organised criminals -- will have a starting point of six years' imprisonment. There will be no change in sentencing for possession or drug supply offences. Where an offender profits from selling drugs, a prison sentence can be expected. Street dealers who have a significant role in selling Class A drugs, particularly those who sell drugs for profit, can expect a custodial sentence with a starting point of four-and-a-half years. Sentences could go up to 16 years for a single incident depending on the quantity of drugs involved."
".... Deputy Chairman of the Sentencing Council, Lord Justice Hughes, said: 'Drug offending has to be taken seriously. Drug abuse underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime and dealing can blight communities. Offending and offenders vary widely so we have developed this Guideline to ensure there is effective guidance for sentencers and clear information for victims, witnesses and the public on how drug offenders are sentenced. This Guideline reinforces current sentencing practice. Drug dealers can expect substantial jail sentences."
"9. In producing the new Guideline, the Sentencing Council expressly made clear that in most respects, although it adopts a modified and clarified method of reasoning, it is expected to produce sentences broadly in line with existing practice. The Council, however, anticipated that its approach would result in reductions in sentence for a certain sub-class of courier (commonly, if inaccurately, known as 'mules')."
"In assessing culpability the sentencer should weigh up all the factors of the case to determine role. Where there are characteristics present which fall under different role categories the court should balance these characteristics to reach a fair assessment of the offender's culpability. In assessing harm quantity is determined by the weight of the product. Purity is not taken into account at step 1 but is dealt with at step 2."
".... As it seems to us, generally speaking, those responsible for organising the importation of Class A drugs into this country will attract somewhat higher sentences than those responsible, as Whiteway was, for organising distribution in this country. The difference, however, is not likely to be very great. It is perhaps convenient to compare with the present case Soares and Others[2003] EWCA Crim 2488 (5th September 2003 ), where sentences in excess of 30 years would have been regarded as properly representing the starting point, following a trial, for the prime mover in importing 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of a Class A drug. Comparison can also be made with Lowe and Others (unreported, Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, transcript30 October 2003 ), where two senior, but not top, organisers of importations in excess of 100 kilograms of Class A drugs attracted sentences in excess of twenty years, following a trial. Our conclusion is that the judge's starting point of twenty years for Whiteway, had there been a trial, was at the bottom of the appropriate bracket for a major organiser of wholesale distribution in this country, bearing in mind he was not the top man in relation to the dissemination of these drugs. That said, the figure of twelve years to which the learned judge discounted the twenty year figure, was, in our judgment, conspicuously overgenerous, having regard, in particular, to the late stage of Whiteway's plea of guilty."