The defendant had entered an RAF station, which was a prohibited place within the Act. He was prosecuted for having obstructed a member of Her Majesty’s forces who was engaged in security duty in relation to the station ‘in the vicinity of a prohibited place’ He argued that being in a prohibited place, he could not be said to be ‘in the vicinity’ of that place.
Held: Applying the golden rule of statutory interpretation, he was guilty. ‘In the vicinity of’ should be interpreted to mean in or near the prohibited place.
Citations:
[1964] 2 QBD 7, [1964] 1 All ER 628
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Crime
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.198835