Why Adel Kerari's Tube jail term was increased

If you've ever assumed a prison sentence is fixed the moment a judge says it out loud, this case is worth pausing over. On Thursday 25 June 2026, the Court of Appeal increased Adel Kerari's sentence from 2 years and 8 months to 3 years and 9 months after Solicitor General Ellie Reeves KC MP referred the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. The Attorney General's Office announced the increase the same day. (gov.uk) That matters because this was not a fresh trial about whether Kerari was guilty. It was a legal check on whether the original punishment was too low. For readers trying to follow court reporting, that distinction is a big one. (gov.uk)

The Attorney General's Office said Kerari was involved in a violent series of robberies and stabbings on the London Underground over two weeks in June 2023. Seven people were targeted across six incidents, with victims robbed, assaulted and, in two cases, stabbed at stations including Holborn, Russell Square, Leicester Square, Goldhawk Road and Leyton. (gov.uk) British Transport Police gave extra detail in its earlier court report. It said the group carried out six violent robberies across 11 days, targeted lone travellers, and moved from station to station using violence or the threat of violence. BTP also said phones, wallets and bank cards were stolen, and that one victim's bank card was later used at an off-licence. (btp.police.uk)

Here is the key change in simple terms. Kerari's original sentence was 2 years and 8 months for six counts of robbery and one count of fraud, and the Court of Appeal later raised it by 1 year and 1 month to 3 years and 9 months. That increase was confirmed on 25 June 2026. (gov.uk) **Small fact-check note:** the public record is not perfectly tidy. The Attorney General's Office press release gives the original sentencing date as 9 January 2025, while British Transport Police's report on the Crown Court case gives 9 January 2026. The sentence lengths match across the reports, but the date does not, so this is one of those moments when careful reading really matters. (gov.uk)

So how did this happen? GOV.UK says anyone can ask for a Crown Court sentence in England and Wales to be reviewed if they think it is too low, and robbery is one of the offence types covered by the scheme. The request goes to the Attorney General's Office, and the Law Officers decide whether the case should be sent to the Court of Appeal. (gov.uk) **What this means:** the scheme is not there for every sentence that feels disappointing. The government says a sentence must be not just lenient but 'unduly lenient'. In other words, it has to fall outside the range reasonably open to the judge, not simply be lower than some people hoped for. (gov.uk)

The timing is strict. GOV.UK's public guidance says the Attorney General's Office must send a case to the Court of Appeal by 5pm on the last working day within 28 calendar days of sentencing, which is why requests need to go in quickly. The hearing itself can happen later, but the referral deadline is tight. (gov.uk) It is also worth separating the jobs of the people involved. GOV.UK describes the Solicitor General as one of the Law Officers who supports the Attorney General in public interest work. That means Ellie Reeves could refer the case, but she did not personally rewrite the sentence. The Court of Appeal is the body that can leave a sentence alone, refuse to hear the case, or decide it was unduly lenient and increase it. (gov.uk)

This case also reminds us that transport crime is investigated by a specialist force. British Transport Police says it polices the rail network, including the London Underground, and its January 2026 report says officers identified Kerari in 2023, found he was out of the country, and arrested him on 4 September 2025 after he returned to the UK. BTP said CCTV helped prove the case. (careers.btp.police.uk) Transport for London, quoted by the Attorney General's Office, said it works with British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police on hotspot patrols and uses data and a wide CCTV network to pursue offenders. That is a useful reminder that safety on the Underground depends on several public bodies working together, not just one court ruling at the end. (gov.uk)

If you are learning how the justice system fits together, there is one last point to hold on to. A conviction appeal asks whether the guilty finding was wrong. An unduly lenient sentence referral accepts the conviction but asks whether the punishment was unlawfully too low. Kerari's case sits in that second category. (gov.uk) For readers, that is the real takeaway. Sentencing does not always end on the day the judge speaks. Sometimes, as this London Underground case shows, there is a lawful route for the public, victims and the Law Officers to ask a higher court whether the punishment truly fits the crime. (gov.uk)