further aggravating factor is your use of two weapons, a brick and a knife, which you took to the scene. in addressing the on the application of schedule 21 i m urged to find that not only is paragraph three not engage but neither is paragraph four and he argues that the knife that you carried was not one which was taken to the scene in the technical sense intended to be conveyed by paragraph four but i reject the submission and i am sure that you took a knife with you to the building and that you intended when you were there to commit an offence of sexual assault and or have the knife available as a weapon, it is not disputed that you used the weapon in committing the murder of nikki allan. paragraph counter is therefore engaged and this finding is overtaken by my earlier conclusion that this is a murder of particular seriousness but the fact that a knife was taken, even a penknife, and it was used, represents a significant aggravating factor which i must take into account.
average or normal or unexceptional murder before taking in mitigating factors into account, and the letter went on to list the various factors which would likely call for a sentence mitigating the normal penalty and those factors included some normality, or mental abnormality, saab normality. for example a sudden response to family pressure or prolonged stress. lord bingham list of the following factors is likely to call for a sentence more severe than the norm, they included the killing of a child, ora they included the killing of a child, or a very old or otherwise vulnerable children, evidence of sadism or gratuitous violence, degradation before the killing, and the use of firearms or other dangerous weapons, whether carried