"It is not sensible to seek to construe the Guidelines as if they were a statute. They cannot predict every permutation of circumstances that might arise and there must be a degree of elasticity in the terminology used, and to this extent there is a degree of flexibility in how the Guidelines operate. In this case the combination of the factors applicable to this offending are, broadly, within the rubric 'Child is particularly vulnerable due to … personal circumstances'. But even if this were not correct and, technically, the facts fell into Category 3, the combination of all the facts identified would still have warranted a sentence of the order imposed by the Judge. This could have been done in a number of different ways, for instance by consecutive sentences ... or simply moving outside of the Category 3 range in the Guidelines."
"A sentence is unduly lenient, we would hold, where it falls outside the range of sentences which the judge, applying his mind to all the relevant factors, could reasonably consider appropriate. In that connection regard must of course be had to reported cases, and in particular to the guidance given by this court from time to time in so-called guideline cases. However it must always be remembered that sentencing is an art rather than a science; that the trial judge is particularly well-placed to assess the weight to be given to various competing considerations; and that leniency is not in itself a vice."