Four men have had their sentences increased following an intervention by the then Solicitor General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP.

The four cases were unrelated but they each concerned a defendant who had attempted to commit sexual activity with a child online.

Their sentences were referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. Due to the specific nature of their offences, each case was heard in a joint hearing on 4 March 2021. The Court of Appeal handed down the judgment for the cases on 21 April.

George Vasile, 40, began messaging an online dating profile, unaware that it had been set up by an undercover police officer posing as a twelve-year-old girl. Vasile was sentenced to a 2-year community order on 17 November 2020 at Basildon Crown Court and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 60 days rehabilitation activity. The Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment suspended for 2 years, leaving in place the 150-hour unpaid work requirement and the 60-day rehabilitation requirement imposed as conditions of the community order.

Lee Crisp, 38, engaged in sexual communication with a profile set up by a member of ‘paedophile hunter’ group posing as a thirteen-year-old girl. Two other members of the group, also posing as teenage girls, soon joined the conversations. Crisp was arrested after the group passed the information to the police in July 2019. Crisp was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 2 years on 4 January 2021 at St Albans Crown Court. The Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment, suspended for 2 years in combination with a Rehabilitation Requirement.

Carl Keirle, 32, engaged in sexual communications with a fifteen-year-old girl. He was sentenced to a 3-year community order on 18 December 2020 at Portsmouth Crown Court. The Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 2 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.

Matthew Millen, 44, promised to pay a man £300 to sexually abuse his daughter. Unbeknown to Millen, however, the man was an undercover police officer and he was subsequently arrested. Millen was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment on 4 December 2020 at Southampton Crown Court. The Court of Appeal has increased his sentence to 7 years’ imprisonment.

After the joint hearing at the Court of Appeal the now Attorney General, Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP, said:

I was shocked and appalled by the wicked intentions of these men and it was only thanks to the vigilance of the police and others that their criminality did not extend further. I welcome the decisions of the Court of Appeal in what is a landmark case for the court.

The Court of Appeal has decided that where a defendant sets out to sexually abuse a child, but in circumstances where the child happens to be an adult posing as a child, then the starting point for sentencing should be set by reference to the harm that the defendant intended to cause the fictional child. The fact that there was no real child for the defendant to abuse will then be reflected in a downward movement from that starting point. The extent of that reduction will be a matter for the court in individual cases to decide.

Following almost 3 months of observation and data collection, last week saw the culmination of a space domain awareness (SDA) experiment known as ‘Phantom Echoes 2’ to successfully observe the rendezvous of 2 active satellites in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO).

Data captured by observers from the international science and defence communities under the leadership of Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) will influence how allied SDA sensors and processing capabilities can be integrated to enhance performance and improve space safety for UK and allied satellites.

2020 saw a step-change in the working model for space with Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1); the first successful commercial mission being undertaken to extend the life of an existing satellite on orbit. This unlocked huge opportunities for future space activity, as satellites no longer need to be designed as single-use systems that are simply discarded when they near end of their operational life.

On 12 April 2021, the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) satellite servicing spacecraft (operated by Northrop Grumman / Space Logistics LLC) approached and docked with the Intelsat 10-02 communications satellite, beginning a mission to extend the lifetime of its client through the provision of manoeuvre capabilities to maintain its orbital position. This activity necessitates increased awareness of activities on-orbit as part of an SDA capability to identify satellites in close proximity, given the size (mass larger than 1 tonne) and speed (orbital velocities of approximately 7,000 mph) of each satellite, and the critical nature of GEO for terrestrial communications services for both civil and military users.

The Phantom Echoes team, headed by an international group of defence space scientists from the Five-Eyes nations (UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) under Dstl leadership, aimed to explore the use of non-traditional space situational awareness sensors (located both on the Earth and in space) and data processing to observe the rendezvous and obtain a higher fidelity picture of the event than available using legacy processes.

A variety of optical and radio frequency instruments from across the UK, Canada and Europe were used to collect measurements on the spacecraft and their orbital motions, using this event to understand the challenges posed by these types of missions in the GEO orbital regime, approximately 36,000 km above the Earth. This included traditional satellite-tracking telescopes, prototype cameras, multi-colour science instruments and radio telescopes. From these instruments, the team have sought to understand the relative motions of the 2 vehicles, how they can be individually identified, and whether a successful docking process could be independently verified from external observations.

Measurement data was collected from a variety of instruments and observers from 10 organisations as the 2 satellites manoeuvred towards each other and performed docking operations. The organisations included:

• Dstl Observatory (Wiltshire, UK)
• The UK Satellite Geodesy Facility (East Sussex, UK)
• University of Warwick telescopes (La Palma, Spain)
• The Liverpool Telescope (La Palma, Spain)
• Sapphire and NEOSSat (Canadian satellites in low-Earth orbit)
• Goonhilly Earth Station (Cornwall, UK)
• Basingstoke Astronomical Society (within the ‘Argus’ initiative)

The experiment sought to demonstrate how allied SDA sensors and processing capabilities can be integrated to enhance the performance over individual systems working independently to improve space safety for UK and allied satellites in and near geostationary orbit. Observation of real-world events such as these are used by the research team to understand future challenges to space safety, advise the development of operational SDA architectures within the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative and demonstrate the value of international collaboration in space domain awareness.

The experiment was conducted by the following national lead organisations:

• Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl, UK)
• Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC, Canada)
• Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL, USA)
• Defence Technology Agency (DTA, New Zealand)
• Defence Science and Technology Group (DST, Australia)

Contributions were also received from the following academic, industry and commercial partners enabled by these national laboratories:

• Northrop Grumman / Space Logistics LLC (US)
• University of Warwick (UK)
• Safran Data Systems (France and US)
• University of Liverpool (UK)
• Basingstoke Astronomical Society (UK)
• University of Arizona (US)
• UK Space Geodesy Facility, Herstmonceux (UK)
• Goonhilly Earth Station (UK)
• Airbus Defence and Space (UK)
• Deimos Space UK (UK)
• University of Kent (UK)
• Bluestaq LLC / Centauri Corp. (US)

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The Home Office has appointed an independent advisor on fire policy – the first role of its kind.

Roy Wilsher started his role as Expert Advisor on Fire & Rescue Service Reform on 12 April. He will provide support to the Home Office’s Fire Strategy and Reform Unit in developing a White Paper on Fire Reform.

He will offer valuable operational insight and work with stakeholders on the upcoming White Paper on fire reform. He will also help the Home Office to respond to findings from an imminent consultation on the White Paper.

Roy is coming into this role having served as the first ever Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and under his leadership has driven improvement and development throughout the UK’s Fire and Rescue Services.

Fire Minister Lord Greenhalgh said:

I’m very pleased that I will be joining forces with Roy in our ground-breaking work on fire reform.

Roy’s operational experience and independent insight will be invaluable in helping us develop the White Paper on Fire Reform, with his long career in the Fire and Rescue Service informing his day-to-day duties.

Roy Wilsher, Expert Advisor on Fire and Rescue Service Reform, said:

The Fire and Rescue Service is a great institution with fantastic people who serve their communities.

I have spent my whole working life in that service and I am really pleased to be asked to assist with the government’s reform agenda to ensure the Fire and Rescue Service adds even more value in future.

Roy began his career when he joined the London Fire Brigade as a firefighter in 1981 and rose to the rank of Assistant Commissioner for Community Fire Safety. He later became the Chief Executive for the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

Prior to becoming NFCC Chair, Roy was Chief Fire Officer for Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, where he represented Fire and Rescue in a range of government and sector forums and was the first line of advice to Ministers during major incidents.

The White Paper on Fire Reform will set the direction for English Fire and Rescue Services in three areas: professionalism, people and governance.

It will seek to deliver a set of reforms to ensure Fire and Rescue Services operate effectively and efficiently, put the public first and meet the needs of the communities they serve, whilst adapting to societal changes.