UK judges are generally very reasonable in my experience (though I should acknowledge that my experience is limited to being an observer or witness in a small n

UK judges are generally very reasonable in my experience (though I should acknowledge that my experience is limited to being an observer or witness in a small number of cases). If something really does seem like an honest mistake, they may take that into account when passing a sentence. On the other hand, if someone not only did something bad but then the judge thinks they tried to cover it up even in court, that is likely to count against them, possibly heavily.