‘Earlier this month, the Chairman of the Sentencing Council, Lord Justice Treacy, wrote to all sentencers to remind them of the requirement to follow the Council’s Imposition of Community and Custodial Sentences Definitive Guideline, which has been in force since February 2017. Courts are statutorily bound to follow sentencing guidelines unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so.’
Sentencing Council, 24th April 2018