Unlimited fine, but no prison - the guilty party will be a corporation (company) rather than an individual. Courts also have the power to impose Publicity Orders forcing companies to advertise their failings.

Ian

Ian/all

That point has recently been reinforced by the Court of Appeal, when it dismissed the joint appeals against sentence of £700,000 and £500,000 by Sellafield Ltd and Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd. respectively.

In dismissing the appeal against Sellafield Mr. Justice Mitting, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales said:

"It is not appropriate, as was submitted on behalf of Sellafield Ltd, to consider a fine of £1million as apposite [suitable] only to a major disaster. To accept that submission would be to ignore the court's obligation under s.164 of the CJA [Criminal Justice Act] 2003 to have regard to the financial circumstances of the offender and the approach made clear in the Sentencing Guidelines Council Guideline..."

Mr. Justice Mitting continued:

"It is clear that viewed in the light of the financial circumstances of this company, a fine of £700,000 after a guilty plea is a fine which reflects a case where the culpability was moderate, the actual harm was in effect nil and the risk of harm very low. It [the fine] must be viewed against the requirement that those engaged either as directors or shareholders of companies engaged in the nuclear industry must give the highest priority to safety as Parliament has directed.”

It is worth noting that Sellafield had not killed or injured anybody, they had merely put peoples’ health and safety at risk.

Regards.
DJ.