The defendant had been accused of obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty by warning motorists of presence of a police speed trap. The prosecutor appealed from dismissal of the charge.
Held: ‘the hand signals given by the respondent were intended to warn motorists approaching from behind to reduce their speed because of the presence ahead of a police trap, but that there was no evidence that any such drivers were either driving in excess of the speed limit or were likely to do so. Hence, the Crown Court judge’s conclusion that the situation was analogous to that which would obtain if there was no other traffic in the vicinity.’ Applying the tests in Rice v Connolly, there was no evidence that any of the motorists were speeding or were likely to be speeding. The appeal was dismissed
Judges:
Scott Baker LJ, Owen J
Citations:
[2005] EWHC 2333 (Admin)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Bastable v Little 1907
The police had set up a series of speed traps in London Road, Croydon. Mr Little occupied himself giving warning signals to drivers approaching the traps, thus ensuring that they did not exceed the speed limit. There was no evidence that the drivers . .
Cited – Betts v Stevens 1910
The defendant, an Automobile Association patrolman was accused of obstructing a police constable in the execution of his duty. The police had set a speed trap, and the defendant had warned approaching vehicles of the trap. At the time they were . .
Cited – Green v Moore 1982
The respondent, a probationer police constable was convicted for obstructing police officers in the execution of their duty under s51(3) of the 1964 Act. He was a regular in a bar he knew was to be raided. He warned the landlord who complied with . .
Cited – Rice v Connolly 1966
No Legal Duty to Assist a Constable
At common law there is no legal duty to provide the police with information or otherwise to assist them with their inquiries. Lord Parker set out three questions to be answered when asking whether there had been an obstruction of an officer in the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Flegg v Justices of the Peace for the New Forest Local Justice Area Sitting at Lyndhurst Admn 21-Feb-2006
The defendant sought judicial review of the refusal by the magistrates to state a case. He was convicted for failing to identify the driver of a motor cycle of which he was a registered keeper which had been caught by a speed camera. Either of two . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 04 July 2022; Ref: scu.235192
