Man jailed for attempted murder of woman and children in car faces sentence increase

A car passenger who tried to murder a woman driver and two children after grabbing the steering wheel of a vehicle could face an increased prison sentence.

Steven Phillipson, 34, was jailed for more than seven years for the crime, which led to the car veering off the road and rolling over, endangering the lives of the victims.

But the Crown has now appealed against the disposal, maintaining that it was unduly lenient and that it should be quashed and Phillipson should be sentenced again.

Advocate depute Erin Campbell told judges at the High Court of Appeal in Edinburgh that the sentencing judge had imposed an overall sentence that fell outside the range of appropriate sentences for the offence.

She told the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Beckett, sitting with Lord Doherty and Lord Matthews: “There was a high level of culpability involved in this case.”

She said that Phillipson’s actions in applying the handbrake of the vehicle and pulling the steering wheel indicated “a clear intention” to cause harm to the victims.

She said: “The potential for serious harm was high.”

The prosecutor argued that, in addition to underestimating the seriousness of the offence, the judge did not give sufficient weight to aggravating factors, such as the two child victims who were aged three and nine and Phillipson’s significant criminal record, which included convictions for violence.

She said Phillipson threw away the woman’s mobile phone, which would have had an effect on her ability to get help after the incident.

Defence counsel John Brannigan, for Phillipson, said: “It is my submission that the sentencing judge has not proceeded on an incorrect basis.

“The sentencing judge has had regard to all the primary sentencing aims and has appropriately considered all of these,” he told the appeal judges.

He said that the outcome did not meet the test for “undue leniency” that was required for a Crown appeal against a sentence to succeed.

Phillipson denied a series of charges at an earlier trial at the High Court in Edinburgh but was found guilty of attempting to murder the 31-year-old woman and the children on June 11, 2023.

He grabbed and pulled the steering wheel and applied the handbrake, resulting in the vehicle veering off the road and rolling over, endangering the lives of the woman and children in the crash on the A941 road close to the village of Fogwatt, near Elgin, in Morayshire.

The trial prosecutor, Martin Crawford, told jurors that Phillipson caused the crash and “gambled with the lives of the occupants”.

He said a picture emerged in evidence of Phillipson on the day of the murder bid being intoxicated, irrational and violent and acting with “wicked recklessness as to the fate of those in the car”.

Phillipson said he got into the car as he was needing a lift to Elgin but claimed: “I never pulled the handbrake.”

One witness heard the woman shout that he pulled the handbrake and steering wheel.

Judge Olga Pasportnikov jailed Phillipson for seven years and one month and ordered that he should be under supervision for a further two-year period in the community, where he can be returned to jail if he breaches licence conditions.

The appeal judges reserved their decision in the case, and Lord Beckett said they would give a ruling “reasonably soon”.