Scotland's Court of Appeal has slashed ScottishPower's fine over a scalding incident at the Longannet Power Station from £1.75m to £1.2m, after deciding the original judge had misapplied the step by step formula in the sentencing guidelines.
The sentencing guidelines technically only apply to England and Wales, leading to arguments by ScottishPower's legal team that the courts should have followed Scottish case law instead, and that the the guidelines were too "mechanistic and formulaic" and "inconsistent with the discretionary nature of sentencing in Scotland".
However, the appeal judge ruled that the original Scottish sheriff had been correct in "having regard to" the guidelines, and that this was an established principle north of the border, particularly in cases governed by UK statute.
The case centred on burn injuries suffered by plant controller David Roscoe, after he opened a valve that should have been fitted with a device to prevent it fully opening. The resulting release of steam caused serious burns to his chest and legs, leading to five operations and two skin grafts. The incident happened on 12 October 2013 and he was medically retired in December 2015.
The appeal judge supported the application of the sentencing guidelines in Scotland, saying that Scottish courts should pay heed to what happened south of the border, and that the new guidelines were an aid to consistency. The original sheriff had correctly assigned the case to high culpability and harm factor two, dismissing arguments from ScottishPower that this was incorrect. Initially, a fine of £2.5m had been calculated, which was reduced by a third to £1.75m to take into account an early guilty plea.
However, the appeal judge found that the culpability and harm categories should have resulted in a fine with a starting point of £1.1m and a range of £550,000 to £2.9m. He assessed aggravating and mitigating factors to arrive at a starting point of £1.5m.
He then found that a one third discount was too generous in relation to the overall sum, applying a discount of 20% to result in a £1.2m fine.
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