The defendant had been in possession of a knife which he said that he had used to fix his car radiator and then put in his pocket. As to the statutory defence the trial judge had directed the jury that ‘just forgetfulness on its own was no reason.’
Held: As a general rule but not invariably, that proposition stands true: it all depends on the facts of the case. But the judge then went on to say, perhaps charitably to the defendant in all the circumstances, that forgetfulness combined with another reason might afford a good reason; that, if he had the knife on him for some further work, it would be a defence to say ‘I’d forgotten it was there but it was there for further work on the car.’ He therefore left both defences to the jury. If anything, in so doing he was being too favourable to the defendant, particularly, it may be thought, with reference to the good reason point.
Judges:
Henry LJ
Citations:
[1997] EWCA Crim 2562, [1998] Crim LR 198, [1998] CLR 199
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Gregson QBD 23-Sep-1992
A knife fell from the defendant’s jeans during the course of a police search. He claimed to have forgotten about it.
Held: It is important to concentrate on the time in respect of which the defendant is charged. Six days earlier he had the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Jolie v Regina CACD 23-May-2003
The appellant had been convicted of having a pointed article with him in a public place. He said that the car he was driving had needed an instrument to operate the lock. At first he had used a knife, but then used scissors, losing the knife in the . .
Cited – Chahal v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 24-Feb-2010
The defendant appealed against his conviction for possession of a bladed article. He had used the knife at work and forgotten to leave it at work and had it in his pocket by accident.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The defendant had been accepted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 11 October 2022; Ref: scu.152017