41A. Assessing seriousness.

In considering¹ the seriousness of an offence (or of the combination of an offence and one or more offences associated with it), the court² must have regard to the general statutory principles relating to the determination of minimum terms in mandatory life sentences³ and to any guidelines⁴ relating to offences in general which are relevant to the case and are not incompatible with those general principles⁵. Nevertheless, the assessment of seriousness involves a broad judgment of the overall criminality⁶ and each case depends critically on its particular facts, and if the judge concludes that it is appropriate to follow