There was an anomaly in maxima between different offences of sexual assault and unlawful sexual intercourse. Citations: Ind Summary 24-Oct-1994, Times 13-Oct-1994 Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 6 10 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.86786
The Kenyan and British authorities agreed for the building by the plaintiff of a bridge supported by the imposition of tolls. Btitish military were exempt from payment. At the time of the agreement there was only one unit of military, but as time went on more troops arrived, and the bulk of the traffic was … Continue reading Nyali Ltd v Attorney-General: CA 1956
Evidence allowed – Care Application after Abuse Children had made allegations of serious sexual abuse against their step-father. He was acquitted at trial, but the local authority went ahead with care proceedings. The parents appealed against a finding that a likely risk to the children had still been been found. Held: A care order could … Continue reading In re H and R (Minors) (Child Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof): HL 14 Dec 1995
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The actus reus of the offence of rape was an act of sexual intercourse to which the complainant did not consent at the time it occurred. Citations: [1981] EWCA Crim 2, 73 Cr App R 344, [1982] QB 320 Links: Bailii Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 3 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Cited – … Continue reading Olugboja, Regina v: CACD 17 Jun 1981
Appeals were brought complaining as to the apparent reversal of the burden of proof in road traffic cases and in cases under the Terrorism Acts. Was a legal or an evidential burden placed on a defendant? Held: Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘The overriding concern is that a trial should be fair, and the presumption … Continue reading Sheldrake v Director of Public Prosecutions; Attorney General’s Reference No 4 of 2002: HL 14 Oct 2004
The defendant appealed against sentence after conviction for attempted rape. He said that the offence, being charged under the 1981 Act was not a sexual offence, and neither was it a violent one within the 1991 Act. Held: The appeal failed. Attempted rape is a sexual offence under the 1956 Act. Attempted rape was to … Continue reading Regina v Robinson: CACD 27 Nov 1992
Interpretation of ‘immoral purpose’ needs restating by Parliament. Citations: Gazette 17-Mar-1993 Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 32 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Crime Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.87089
The defendant appealed sentences of 7 years for indecent assaults on young girls. He was a policeman running a youth club. Certain of the allegations related to times when the maximum sentence was two years, but the defendant’s pleas specifically related to events after the new provisions. Held: The offence of indecent assault is an … Continue reading Regina v Cairns: CACD 28 Oct 1997
The defendant appealed against his conviction for having had unlawful sex with an underage girl. He had pleaded guilty but now said this had been n a misunderstanding of the law. He had believed the girl to be 15, but his belief that that belief was insufficient was disturbed by a decision of the Supreme … Continue reading Brown, Regina v: CANI 8 Sep 2011
The defendants appealed against their convictions under common law for keeping a disorderly house. They were landlords using an agreement requiring the tenant not to be used for immoral purposes. There was evidence of limited sexual activity. Only one girl had been seen and therefore the charge under the 1956 Act was withdrawn. Held: the … Continue reading Court, Regina v: CACD 9 Feb 2012
The court was asked how the judge should approach offences committed under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 in the context of the Definitive Guidelines under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. It raises the important point as to how the judge should approach the totality where there has, over a considerable period, been a variety of … Continue reading Attorney General’s Reference No 7 of 2011: CACD 7 Mar 2011
For mens rea, it is the defendant’s belief, not the grounds on which it is based, which goes to negative the intent. The guilty state of mind was the intent to use personal violence to a woman without her consent. If the defendant did not so intend, he was entitled to be found not guilty. … Continue reading Regina v Kimber: CACD 1983
In a prosecution for an offence of indecent assault on a girl under 16 under the section, it was necessary for the prosecution to prove the absence of a positive belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 16 or over. The legislation history showed an anomalous bringing together of different, and conflicting strands … Continue reading Regina v K: HL 25 Jul 2001
There is no need on a charge alleging rape to separate into separate counts on the indictment allegations of acting knowingly and acting recklessly as to whether the woman consented. That the prosecution had set out to establish knowledge of lack of consent did not mean that they had abandoned an assertion of recklessness. It … Continue reading Regina v Flitter: CACD 13 Feb 2001
Tan and others were accused of keeping a disorderly house having advertised: ‘Humiliation enthusiast, my favourite past time is humiliating and disciplining mature male submissives, in strict bondage, lovely tan coloured mistress invites humble applicants, TV, CP, BD and rubber wear.’ Held: The court upheld convictions which were dependent on Gloria Greaves, a post-operative male … Continue reading Regina v Tan: CA 1983
The court allowed an appeal against the defendant’s conviction for sexual assault. Citations: [2011] EWCA Crim 1177 Links: Bailii Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 14 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Crime Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.439792
The defendant appealed a conviction for buggery of a complainant under the age of 16, saying that he had a genuine belief that the boy had been of age. Held: Buggery was not an absolute offence. The amendments to the 1956 Act did not signify that the age related offence should be one of strict … Continue reading Regina v Kumar: CACD 16 Dec 2004
Citations: [1997] EWHC Admin 1047 Links: Bailii Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 14(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Crime Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.137992
The defendant had been convicted of repeatedly raping a 12 week old girl, and other sexual offences against young girls. After pleading guilty, the judge had passed a life sentence setting the minimum term at six years which was lower because of the guilty plea. His partner had been convicted as an accomplice but took … Continue reading French and Webster, Regina v (Attorney General’s Reference No 14 and No 15 of 2006): CACD 8 Jun 2006
The AG sought to have referred as lenient a community rehabilitation order with participation in a sex offender’s rehabilitation programme after a conviction for sexual assaults. Held: The offences had been committed in the 1950s and early 1970s, and the defendant was now 72. The sentencing court had been correct to take those factors into … Continue reading Attorney General’s Reference No 70 of 2008; Regina v W: CACD 21 Jan 2009
The defendant appealed conviction for indecent assault. The charge alleged assault by intercourse per vaginam with a 13 year old girl. He had been 14 years old at the time. The verdict indicated consent by the complainant. Held: The appeal failed. The 2003 Act was not retrospective. However: ‘to hold that the express intention of … Continue reading Timmins, Regina v: CACD 15 Nov 2005
The defendant was to have been accused of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16. Proceedings could not be brought, because the allegation was more than a year old, and he was instead accused of indecent assault, but on the same facts. He appealed against his conviction, saying this was an abuse of … Continue reading Regina v J: HL 14 Oct 2004
Certification of point of law for an appeal to the House of Lords: ‘Whether it is an abuse of process for the Crown to prosecute a charge of indecent assault under Section 14(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 in circumstances where the conduct upon which that charge is based is an act of unlawful … Continue reading Regina v Jones: CACD 16 Jan 2003
The defendant might have been chaged with an offence under section 6 of the Act, of unlawful intercourse with a girl under 16, but the prosecution would have been outside the time limit of twelve months. Instead he was prosecuted for an offence under section 14 of indecent assault, but based upon the same facts. … Continue reading Regina v Jones: CACD 20 Dec 2002
Judges: Lady Justice Thirlwall Mrs Justice Lambert And Mr Justice Ritchie Citations: [2022] EWCA Crim 690 Links: Bailii Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 14 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Crime Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.678122
For the purposes of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, a juvenile but willing participant in an act of buggery, is not deemed to be a victim of a crime of violence. The purpose of the section is to disapprove of such activity in general, and therefore neither participants is to be seen as a victim. … Continue reading Regina – v- Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel, ex parte August; Similar: CA 18 Dec 2000
The court accepted that the word `unlawfully’ in relation to carnal knowledge had in many early statutes not been used with any degree of precision, and he referred to a number of enactments making it a felony unlawfully and carnally to know any woman-child under the age of 10. ‘One would think that all intercourse … Continue reading Regina v Chapman: CCA 1958
The UK law which had the effect of prohibiting non-violent homosexual acts by groups of males, was a violation of the right to respect for his private life. The law went beyond that which might properly be required in a democratic society for the protection of morals or health or the rights and freedoms of … Continue reading ADT v United Kingdom: ECHR 4 Aug 2000
The defendant appealed his conviction for rape saying that the judge had wrongly excluded cross examination of the complainanant, in which he had wanted to establish previous false complaints by her. Held: The appeal failed. The defendant had no evidential basis for the proposed cross examination. The purpose of the rule was not for the … Continue reading Regina v Abdeirahman: CACD 12 May 2005
The defendant was charged with unlawful sexual intercourse and it was held to have been correct to leave to the jury as an alternative verdict a verdict of indecent assault. It was held as ‘plain beyond argument’ that if a man inserted his finger into the vagina of a girl under 16 that would be … Continue reading Regina v McCormack: CACD 1969
The judge withdrew from the jury the central issue whether the appellant was habitually in the company of a prostitute. Citations: (1968) Cr App R 47 Statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 30(2) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Cited – H, Regina v CACD 25-Apr-2006 The defendant youth appealed his conviction and sentence for rape … Continue reading Regina v Ptohopoulos: CACD 1968
The claimant made a claim as regards a sexual assault committed against him in prison. The Panel refused the claim on the basis that he had consented. Held: A claim might succeed where the consent was vitiated in such circumstances as would leave the assault a criminal offence. The claimant was vulnerable and had been … Continue reading Regina (E) v Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel: CA 3 Mar 2003
When the defendant faced a charge of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16, the prosecution did not face a burden of proving that he had no honest belief that she was 16 or over. The Act intended to produce the effect that no mens rea in this respect was required. A … Continue reading Regina v K: CACD 7 Nov 2000
(Crown Ct at Teesside) A husband was charged with having raped his wife, from whom he was living apart at the time. Held: The charge was bad. s 1(1)(a) of the 1976 Act had the effect that the marital exemption embodied in Hale’s proposition was preserved, subject to those exceptions established by cases decided before … Continue reading Regina v J (rape: marital exemption): Crwn 1991
The defendant appealed agaist his conviction. The section referred to a sexual assault on a girl, but the offence alleged an offence against his son. Held: The appeal failed. The Criminal Procedure Rules were directory in nature and not mandatory. Davis LJ, Turner , Laing JJ [2016] EWCA Crim 454, [2016] WLR(D) 249 Bailii, WLRD … Continue reading AD, Regina v: CACD 29 Apr 2016
The appellant, a boy aged 15, had been warned as to admitted indecent assaults on girls. He complained that it had not been explained to him that the result would be that his name would be placed on the sex offenders register. The Chief Constable appealed a decision that this was an interference in his … Continue reading R, Regina (on the Application of) v Durham Constabulary and Another: HL 17 Mar 2005
Police Data Retention Justifiable The appellants challenged the collection of data by the police, alleging that its retention interfered with their Article 8 rights. C complained of the retention of records of his lawful activities attending political demonstrations, and T complained of the retention of an harassment warning issued against him. The Commissioner now appealed … Continue reading Catt and T, Regina (on The Applications of) v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis: SC 4 Mar 2015
The defendant appealed against convictions for rape and indecent assault under the 1956 Act. The allegations dated from 1985 to 1989 when the complainant had been between 9 and 13. The prosecution brought in a doctor who said that in 1993 D complained of sexual abuse by Z when she was a young girl. D … Continue reading Regina v Z: CACD 23 Jan 2009
18 counts of indecent assault contrary to s.14(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 Lord Justice William Davis, Mr Justice Fraser, Her Honour Judge Walden-Smith [2021] EWCA Crim 1866 Bailii England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.670358
The defendants appealed convictions for unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16. They claimed that the availability to a defendant under 23 of a special defence which was not available to them because of their own age was discriminatory. Held: the absence of the defence was not discriminatory. A similar defence was available to … Continue reading Regina v Kirk; Regina v Russell: CACD 31 May 2002
The defendant appealed against convictions for indecency with a child, saying there was new evidence. The jury had enquired as to the absence of evidence from a particular witness. Held: The new evidence from the witness was heard. Though helpfu it was not conclusive, and in any ecent: ‘ the Judge gave the conventional direction … Continue reading Midgley v Regina: CACD 11 Jul 2014
The defendant had been convicted of knowingly living on the earnings of prostitution contrary to section 30(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. Held: The Commission rejected as manifestly ill-founded the applicant’s challenge to this provision as incompatible with article 6(2). It created a rebuttable presumption which the defendant could disprove, and was not a … Continue reading X v United Kingdom: ECHR 1972
Offence of Conspiracy to corrupt public morals The defendant appealed against his convictions for conspiracy to corrupt public morals, and for living from the earnings of prostitution. He said that first was not an offence known to common law. After it became unlawful for a prostitute to ply her trade on the streets, the defendant … Continue reading Shaw v Director of Public Prosecutions: HL 4 May 1961
The defendant appealed against his conviction under the 1889 Act for making a corrupt gift to a local government officer. He said that the 1916 Act placed an unfair burden on him to prove that the gift was not corruptly given. Held: The appeal succeeded. Article 6.2 does not provide an absolute prohibition against the … Continue reading Webster v Regina: CACD 1 Dec 2010
The defendants appealed against their convictions for rape, denying mens rea and asserting a belief (even if mistaken) that the victim had consented. Held: For a defence of mistake to succeed, the mistake must have been honestly made and need not have been reasonably held. Where a defendant had sexual intercourse with a woman without … Continue reading Regina v Morgan: HL 30 Apr 1975
The claimant challenged the right of police officers to take his photograph as he attended an annual general meeting of Reed Elsevier Plc. He was a campaigner against the arms trade, but had always acted lawfully. The company noted the purchase of single shares by membersof the group and alerted the police. The defendant decided … Continue reading Wood v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: Admn 22 May 2008
The defendant appealed against his sentence to eight years imprisonment on 8 counts of indecent assault. The offences occurred between 1977 and 1984. Held: Each of the victims was young and vulnerable and the assaults had had continuing effects on their lives. The aggravating features were: ‘There were four girls or young women involved; one … Continue reading Clifford, Regina v: CACD 7 Nov 2014
The defendant had been tried for indecent assaults. The complainant having died before the trial, the judge had ruled that her written statements were admissible. The defendant said he had not had a fair trial.
Held: The appeal failed. The . .
The victim complied with the defendant’s instructions, given in text messages where he was posing as a police officer, to the effect that she should have sexual intercourse with him. These offences were committed either side of the coming into force of the 2003 Act; and, in relation to the pre-May 2004 period, they were … Continue reading Jheeta, Regina v: CACD 11 Jul 2007
The appellant was detained under section 37 of the 1983 Act as a mental patient with a restriction under section 41. He sought his release. Held: The standard of proof in such applications remained the balance of probabilities, but that standard was flexible, and varied according to the seriousness of the allegation. The only misdirection … Continue reading AN, Regina (on the Application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal (Northern Region) and others: CA 21 Dec 2005
Prosecution to prove absence of genuine belief To convict a defendant under the 1960 Act, the prosecution had the burden of proving the absence of a genuine belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 14 or over. The Act itself said nothing about any mental element, so the assumption must be that mens … Continue reading B (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions: HL 23 Feb 2000
The appellant Khera’s father had obtained leave to settle in the UK. The appellant obtained leave to join him, but did not disclose that he had married. After his entry his wife in turn sought to join him. The appellant was detained as an illegal immigrant. Held: The term ‘illegal immigrant’ included anyone entering unlawfully. … Continue reading Khera v Secretary of State for The Home Department; Khawaja v Secretary of State for The Home Department: HL 10 Feb 1983
The claimant challenged the Order as regards the prescription of the morning-after pill, asserting that the pill would cause miscarriages, and that therefore the use would be an offence under the 1861 Act. Held: ‘SPUC’s case is that any interference with a fertilised egg, if it leads to the loss of the egg, involves the … Continue reading Regina (Smeaton) v Secretary of State for Health and Others: Admn 18 Apr 2002
The House was asked as to the standard of proof required to establish that adultery had been condoned under the subsection. Held: Lord Denning said: ‘In short it comes to this: so far as the grounds for divorce are concerned, the case, like any civil case, may be proved by a preponderance of probability, but … Continue reading Blyth v Blyth: HL 1966
Balance of probabilities remains standard of proof There had been cross allegations of abuse within the family, and concerns by the authorities for the children. The judge had been unable to decide whether the child had been shown to be ‘likely to suffer significant harm’ as a consequence. Having found some evidence to suggest that … Continue reading In re B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) (CAFCASS intervening): HL 11 Jun 2008
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant was an attorney. A complaint was made that he had been given money to buy land, but neither had the land been conveyed nor the money returned. The complaint began in 1988, but final speeches were not heard until . .
L appealed against his conviction for rape. His victim was a woman working as a prostitute. He said that he had simply made off afterwards without payment. He was convicted on the basis that he had procured the act by a false pretence by him that he . .
