The court considered whether the defendants had continued to be involved in a criminal action where they were originally involved, but claimed to have ceased involvement.
Held: In considering whether a person had withdrawn, there must usually be some act and not merely a mere mental change of intention or physical change of place by the person contending he had withdrawn. The jury should be directed that they must be satisfied (a) that the fatal injuries were sustained when the joint enterprise was continuing and that the defendant was still acting within that joint enterprise, and (b) that the acts which caused the death were within the scope of the joint enterprise.

Judges:

Otton LJ

Citations:

[1990] Crim LR 496, (1988) 163 JP 75

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Robinson CACD 3-Feb-2000
Otton LJ said as to whether a defendant continued to be involved in a joint enterprise: ‘it can only be in exceptional circumstances that a person can withdraw from a crime he has initiated. Similarly in those rare circumstances communication of . .
Cited – O’Flaherty and Others, Regina v CACD 10-Mar-2004
It is for the jury to decide the question as to what the defendant had joined up to in a joint enterprise case by considering the knowledge and actions of those involved. The jury would have to be sure before the defendant was convicted that the . .
Cited – Mitchell and Another, Regina v CACD 4-Nov-2008
The appellant challenged their convictions as ancillary parties to a murder, particularly as to the joint enterprise direction. There had been a scuffle outside a pub. The appellant went away with others to a nearby house, and returned with them . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.277526

A group of men set upon a man in a bar and he was stabbed to death.The court considered the law of joint offences. The trial judge had directed the jury: ‘Manslaughter is unlawful killing without an intent to kill or do grievous bodily harm. Anybody who is party to an attack which results in an unlawful killing which results in death is a party to the killing.
. . a person who takes part in or intentionally encourages conduct which results in a criminal offence will not necessarily share the exact guilt of the one who actually strikes the blow. His foresight of the consequences will not necessarily be the same as that of the man who strikes the blow, the principal assailant, so that each may have a different form of guilty mind, and that may distinguish their respective criminal liability. Several persons, therefore, present at the death of a man may be guilty of different degrees of crime – one of murder, others of unlawful killing, which is manslaughter. Only he who intended that unlawful and grievous bodily harm should be done is guilty of murder. He who intended only that the victim should be unlawfully hit and hurt will be guilty of manslaughter if death results.’ The defendant now appealed against his conviction for manslaughter.
Held: The appeal was dismissed because the appellant knew the principal had a knife. However, a radical departure by the primary killer from the foreseen purpose of an enterprise might relieve a secondary party of liability. The greater the difference between the act actually committed and the behaviour that was within contemplation, the more likely that the jury will infer that the appellant did not foresee the murder.

Citations:

[1963] 1 WLR 1200, 128 JP 13, [1963] 3 All ER 597

Cited by:

Cited – Rahman and Others, Regina v HL 2-Jul-2008
The defendants appealed against their convictions for murder. None had themselves inflicted any violence, but were convicted as part of a joint enterprise. They said they had not known that the principal carried a knife. They said that the evidence . .
Cited – Jogee and Ruddock (Jamaica) v The Queen SC 18-Feb-2016
Joint Enterprise Murder
(and in Privy Council) The two defendants appealed against their convictions (one in Jamaica) for murder, under the law of joint enterprise. Each had been an accessory when their accomplice killed a victim with a knife. The judge in Jogee had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.270890

An unlawful and dangerous acted directed at one person but injuring somebody else can found a charge of manslaughter.

Citations:

[1983] QB 741

Cited by:

Cited – Attorney-General’s Reference (No 3 of 1994) HL 24-Jul-1997
The defendant stabbed a pregnant woman. The child was born prematurely and died. The attack had been directed at the mother, and the proper offence was manslaughter.
Held: The only questions which need to be addressed are (1) whether the act . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.270479

The electronic transfer of funds moves no identifiable property capable of being the subject of a charge of obtaining property by deception.

Citations:

[1995] Crim L R 564

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 15(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Preddy; Regina v Slade; Regina v Dhillon (Conjoined Appeals) HL 10-Jul-1996
The appellants were said to have made false mortgage applications. They appealed convictions for dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
Held: A chose in action created by an electronic bank transfer was not property which was capable of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.87568

Citations:

[1944] ScotHC HCJAC – 1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Crime

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.279174

(York) The defendant, a French master was accused of outraging pubic decency: ‘for exposing his person at a window in Micklegate, York, to excite a girl who was a servant on the second floor of the house on the opposite side of the street.’
Held: Baron Parke said: ‘I left it to the jury to say whether those in the street could have seen him or not (not whether they did see him); and that, if they could have seen him, it was a nuisance.’ Exposure by the defendant to one person was not sufficient to constitute the offence, but if the jury found that the defendant was in such a position that those in the street could have seen him had they happened to look, it was an offence; it did not matter that no one in the street had actually seen him.

Judges:

Baron Parke

Citations:

[1830] Denman’s reports 344 (Note)

Cited by:

Cited – Hamilton, Regina v CACD 16-Aug-2007
The defendant appealed his conviction for outraging public decency. He had surreptitously filmed up the skirts of women in a supermarket. The offence was only discovered after the films were found on a search of his home for other material. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.258778

The defendant appealed his conviction for aggravated burglary, saying that the force used had been only after the theft.
Held: The events were one continuing act. The court should aks ‘whether force used after the theft was complete could be seen as immediately before or at the time. The court said it was a continuing act. Eveleigh LJ said: ‘counsel submitted that the theft was completed when the jewellery box was first seized and any force thereafter could not have been ‘immediately before or at the time of stealing’ and certainly not ‘in order to steal.’ The essence of the submission was that the theft was completed as soon as the jewellery box was seized.”
and ‘In the present case there can be little doubt that if the appellant had been interrupted after the seizure of the jewellery box the jury would have been entitled to find that the appellant and his accomplice were assuming the rights of an owner at the time when the jewellery box was seized. However, the act of appropriation does not suddenly cease. It is a continuous act and it is a matter for the jury to decide whether or not the act of appropriation has finished. Moreover, it is quite clear that the intention to deprive the owner permanently, which accompanied the assumption of the owner’s rights was a continuing one at all material times. This Court therefore rejects the contention that the theft had ceased by the time the lady was tied up. As a matter of common-sense the appellant was in the course of committing the theft; he was stealing.’

Judges:

Eveleigh LJ

Citations:

(1978) 68 Cr App R 415

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 8

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.253526

The defendant was accused of administering a noxious thing with intent to procure a miscarriage.
Held: It was no defence that the woman to whom the noxious thing was administered was not with child.

Citations:

(1846) 2 Car and K 293

Cited by:

Cited – Haughton v Smith, On Appeal From Regina v Smith (Roger) HL 21-Nov-1973
The defendant appealed against his conviction for attempting to handle stolen goods. They were to be delivered to him in a van, but the meat was intercepted and recovered by the police. The defendant argued that he should not be convicted of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.254554

The defendant had induced a girl to accompany him about 100 yards to his car and to get into the back of it, by pretending to be a police officer searching for drugs and saying that he would escort her to her home. Before he could drive away, her boy friend arrived with two other men and rescued her. At trial, Robert Goff J, had directed the jury that the prosecution had first to prove was that the defendant deprived the victim of her liberty, and then show that he had secreted his victim or carried her away. This second requirement did not need that the victim should be physically carried. ‘It would be quite enough if, because of his conduct, the defendant had the practical effect upon [her] that she felt compelled to submit to his instructions and, for example, to walk a short distance.’ The defendant took the point that the offence of kidnapping was not complete unless and until the defendant succeeded in taking the victim to the destination to which he wished to take her.
Held: Lawton LJ said that the deprivation of liberty ‘has not been in dispute’. What was in issue was the carrying away: ‘All that has to be proved is the false imprisonment, the deprivation of liberty coupled with a carrying away from the place where the victim wants to be. It may be that in some circumstances the movement would not be sufficient in the estimation of the jury to amount to a carrying away. Every case has to be considered on its own facts. In this case the victim was carried away by the appellant for no less than 100 yards and put into a motor car. In our judgment, there was ample evidence that the victim was carried away from the place where she wanted to be, namely by the side of her boyfriend on Stafford Common. There is nothing in the point of law which is raised in this appeal.’

Judges:

Lawton LJ

Citations:

[1978] 1 WLR 921, [1978] 3 All ER 161

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Hendy-Freegard CACD 23-May-2007
The defendant against appealed his conviction for kidnapping. He had fraudulently taken control of his victims’ lives and fleeced them. He was said to have kidnapped them, originally by persuading them to get into his car and then driving off. He . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.253654

(Swansea Crown Court) The defendant was accused of rape. He said that she had consented. The complainant gave evidence after which the prosuction declined to bring further evidence, telling the jury: ‘the prosecution are conscious of the fact that a drunken consent is still a consent and that in the answer, in cross examination, she said, in terms, that she could not remember giving her consent and that is fatal to the prosecution’s case. In those circumstances the prosecution will have no further evidence on the issue of consent. This is a case of the word of the defendant against that of the complainant on that feature it is fatal to the prosecution’s case.’ The judge, approving the course taken by counsel, directed the jury to acquit.

Judges:

Roderick Evans J

Citations:

Unreported November 2005

Cited by:

Cited – Gallagher, Regina v CACD 26-Mar-2007
The defendant appealed his conviction for rape, saying that other acquittals were inconsistent.
Held: They were not. Leave refused. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.250547

Citations:

(1898) 127 Cent Cr Ct Ses Pap 284

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Abu Hamza CACD 28-Nov-2006
The defendant had faced trial on terrorist charges. He claimed that delay and the very substantial adverse publicity had made his fair trial impossible, and that it was not an offence for a foreign national to solicit murders to be carried out . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.247648

(Court of Crown Cases Reserved) A count on the indictment alleged that the defendant: ‘knowingly and wickedly did encourage certain persons, whose names to the jurors were unknown, to murder certain other persons, to wit sovereigns and rulers of Europe.’ The jury had been directed by Lord Coleridge CJ, that if they thought by the publication of the article the defendant did intend to, and did, encourage or endeavour to persuade any person to murder any other person, whether a subject of Her Majesty or not, or whether within the Queen’s dominion or not, and that such encouragement and endeavouring to persuade was the natural and reasonable effect of the article they should find him guilty.
Held: The direction was approved. Denman CJ said: ‘The statute was passed for the very purpose, I think, of rendering it a more serious offence than the common law rendered it to do such an act as this’ and ‘I think the circulation to the world, to multitudes of persons wholly undefined, and to whom it would come, would be sufficient . . .’

Judges:

Denman CJ

Citations:

(1881) 7 QBD 244

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Abu Hamza CACD 28-Nov-2006
The defendant had faced trial on terrorist charges. He claimed that delay and the very substantial adverse publicity had made his fair trial impossible, and that it was not an offence for a foreign national to solicit murders to be carried out . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.247647

The defendant was charged with encouraging persons unknown to murder a foreign soverign.

Citations:

(1907) 70 JP 4

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Abu Hamza CACD 28-Nov-2006
The defendant had faced trial on terrorist charges. He claimed that delay and the very substantial adverse publicity had made his fair trial impossible, and that it was not an offence for a foreign national to solicit murders to be carried out . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.247649

Citations:

[2006] EWCA Crim 2320

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.245329

Citations:

[2006] EWCA Crim 273

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.245037

The defendant appealed his conviction for inciting the distribution or showing of indecent images of children contrary to common law. He said that the offence had taken place abroad.
Held: The appeal failed. Provided that at least part of the act (the process of displaying the images) occurred within the jurisdiction, the crown court could hear the action.

Judges:

Richards LJ, Simon J, Wilkie J

Citations:

Times 17-Aug-2006

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.244630

Citations:

[2006] EWCA Crim 1901

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.243983

The three defendants were properly convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. They agreed that a fourth man, under trial for burglary, should be shot in the leg so as to provide him with mitigation in the event he was convicted.

Citations:

[1985] Crim LR 442

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Saik, Regina v HL 3-May-2006
The defendant appealed aganst his conviction for conspiracy to engage in moneylaundering. At trial he pleaded guilty subject to a qualification that he had not known that the money was the proceeds of crime, though he may have suspected that it . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.241540

The court reviewed a number of authorities which deal with the correct approach by the court when asked to receive evidence pursuant to section 23.

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Crim 2385

Statutes:

Criminal Appeals Act 1968 23(1)

Cited by:

Cited – Hendy, Regina v CACD 12-Apr-2006
The applicant was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992 for a brutal murder. He had pleaded diminished responsibility. There were now no papers from the trial. Medical evidence now suggested that at the time of the trial he would have suffered a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.240379

For a charge of aiding and abetting, the defendant must be shown to have been aware of the essential elements of his acts which constituted the complete crime. However, that may be inferred if a defendant shuts his eyes to the obvious.
Lord Goddard CJ said: ‘Before a person can be convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of an offence he must at least know the essential matters which constitute that offence.’ and ‘He need not actually know that an offence has been committed, because he may not know that the facts constitute an offence and ignorance of the law is not a defence. If a person knows all the facts and is assisting another person to do certain things, and it turns out that the doing of those things constitutes an offence, the person who is assisting is guilty of aiding an abetting that offence, because to allow him to say, ‘I knew of all those facts but I did not know that an offence was committed’, would be allowing him to set up ignorance of the law as a defence.’

Judges:

Lord Goddard CJ

Citations:

[1950] 1 KB 544, [1950] 1 All ER 301, 114 JP 136

Cited by:

Cited – Webster v Regina CACD 3-Mar-2006
The appellant challenged his conviction for aiding an abetting the causing of death by dangerous driving as a passenger. The driver had been drunk.
Held: The mere intoxication of the driver was not of itself and alone sufficient to establish . .
Cited – Equality and Human Rights Commission v Prime Minister and Others Admn 3-Oct-2011
The defendant had published a set of guidelines for intelligence officers called upon to detain and interrogate suspects. The defendant said that the guidelines could only be tested against individual real life cases, and that the court should not . .
Cited – ABC and Others, Regina v CACD 26-Mar-2015
Several defendants sought to appeal against convictions. They were public officials accused of having committed misconduct in public office in the sale of information relating to their work to journalists. The journalists were convicted of . .
Cited – Jogee and Ruddock (Jamaica) v The Queen SC 18-Feb-2016
Joint Enterprise Murder
(and in Privy Council) The two defendants appealed against their convictions (one in Jamaica) for murder, under the law of joint enterprise. Each had been an accessory when their accomplice killed a victim with a knife. The judge in Jogee had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.240050

The House considered the amount of violence or force required to be used to establish the offence of affray: ‘the extent to which the ‘display of force . . without actual violence’ constitutes the offence of affray even where the element of terror is present is still not wholly clear. It seems that the brandishing of a fearful weapon does constitute the offence, and has always done so, though in most cases where this is done by an individual, a charge under the Prevention of Crimes Act 1953 would now seem preferable. From the older authorities it seems plain enough that mere words, unaccompanied by the brandishing of a weapon or actual violence, are not enough. But all sorts of things are, arguably, a display of force. I am anxious that nothing in this case should be construed as necessarily implying that anything less than an unlawful participation in a violent breach of the peace will be enough to satisfy the requirement.’

Judges:

Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone LC

Citations:

[1973] AC 964

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – I v Director of Public Prosecutions etc HL 8-Mar-2001
A group of youths carried petrol bombs in public, anticipating a confrontation with another group. They did not brandish them or actually threaten anybody. On dispersal by the police the bombs were dropped. On being charged with affray it was held . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.237685

Appeal on reference, from conviction of murder – whether fresh evidence that death may have been from natural causes.

Judges:

Macur LJ

Citations:

[2020] EWCA Crim 1628

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.656608

Three men had been involved in the burglary of a sub-post office. Two of them went into the building while the third waited outside. During the burglary the owner of the shop came on the scene and was knocked down. The third man was also convicted of burglary and assault with intent to rob. The judge directed the jury that if the defendants jointly decided to break into premises, each was liable for any incidental violence.
Held: His appeal succeeded. The summing-up treated it as a presumption of law that where a person was found to be acting in concert with others to commit a burglary, it should be presumed that he was also acting in concert with others to use violence in the course of the crime, whereas the jury had to be satisfied on the evidence that there was such a preconceived intention to use violence.
Lord Parker CJ said that the summing-up treated it as a presumption of law that where a person was found to be acting in concert with others to commit a burglary, it should be presumed that he was also acting in concert with others to use violence in the course of the crime, whereas the jury had to be satisfied on the evidence that there was such a preconceived intention to use violence.

Judges:

Lord Parker CJ

Citations:

[1960] Crim LR 840

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Jogee and Ruddock (Jamaica) v The Queen SC 18-Feb-2016
Joint Enterprise Murder
(and in Privy Council) The two defendants appealed against their convictions (one in Jamaica) for murder, under the law of joint enterprise. Each had been an accessory when their accomplice killed a victim with a knife. The judge in Jogee had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.560302

application for leave to appeal against sentence

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Crim 1526

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Sentencing

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.270950

Citations:

[2009] ScotHC HCJAC – 62

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.361492

Citations:

[2003] Crim LR 560

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Dhilon (Pritpal) CACD 23-Nov-2005
The defendant appealed his conviction for escaping from lawful custody. He had been arrested, but then taken to and left at a local hospital. No officer stayed with him, and he later left and went home.
Held: His appeal succeeded. All the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.236332

The defendant appealed his conviction for conspiracy to cheat the Inland Revenue was challenged on grounds which included the fact that the prosecution was unable to show that the appellant had benefited from the proceeds of the fraud.
Held: Notwithstanding some expressions of opinion in the old cases, there was ample authority to show the offence of cheating the Revenue is ‘a conduct offence’. ‘A distinction is drawn between cheating the public or the King, in which the resultant loss does not have to be proved, and cheating a private individual where it must be’.

Judges:

Stuart-Smith LJ

Citations:

[1994] Crim LR 747

Citing:

Approved – Regina v Less and Depalo CACD 2-Mar-1993
The defendant appealed his conviction for cheating the public revenue.
Held: The court approved the judge’s direction to the jury as follows: ‘The next direction I have to give you is what in law is cheating the Public Revenue. To cheat, . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Stannard CACD 1-Nov-2005
The defendant had been convicted of offences in which he had operated to purchase companies and use false debentures to evade corporation tax. Compensation had been sought under the 1988 Act. It was argued that the confiscation order should be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.234403

The court considered an allegation of causing a public nuisance: ‘I conceive that, to constitute a public nuisance, the thing must be such as, in its nature or its consequences, is a nuisance – an injury or a damage, to all persons who come within the sphere of its operations, though it may be so in a greater degree to some than it is to others.’

Judges:

Kindersley V-C

Citations:

(1851) 2 Sim NS 133, 61 ER 291, [1851] EngR 992, (1851) 61 ER 291

Links:

Commonlii

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Rimmington; Regina v Goldstein HL 21-Jul-2005
Common Law – Public Nuisance – Extent
The House considered the elements of the common law offence of public nuisance. One defendant faced accusations of having sent racially offensive materials to individuals. The second was accused of sending an envelope including salt to a friend as a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.231622

Judges:

Lady Cosgrove And Lord Bracadale And Lord Penrose

Links:

ScotC

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.229482

The defendant, a French national came to Great Britain under a permit not allowing her to work. The permit was varied to require her to leave the UK, which she did, going to Eire. She was eported from the Irish Free State, and taken to Holyhead in the custody of the Irish police. She was accused of being in the UK despite being an alien for whom entry was not permitted.
Held: The circumstances in which she had returned were immaterial. The offence was committed by her presence here in breach of the condition.

Citations:

[1933] 149 LT 542, [1933] 97 JP 206, [1933] 77 Sol Jo 486, [1933] 24 Cr Ap Rep 74

Statutes:

Aliens Order 1920 1(4)

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.226224

(Court of Appeal of Jamaica)

Citations:

(1993) 30 JLR

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Brown v The Queen (Jamaica) PC 13-Apr-2005
A police officer appealed against his conviction for manslaughter after being involved in a road traffic accident. Two were killed. The policemen complained as to the direction given on gross negligence manslaughter.
Held: Adomako could not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.226125

Citations:

(1909) 2 Cr App R 217

Cited by:

Cited – Woolmington v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-May-1935
Golden Thread of British Justice – Proof of Intent
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of his wife. She had left him and returned to live with her mother. He went to the house. He said he intended to frighten her that he would kill himself if she did not return. He wired a shotgun to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.223127

Citations:

(1915) 11 Cr. App. R. 182

Cited by:

Cited – Woolmington v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-May-1935
Golden Thread of British Justice – Proof of Intent
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of his wife. She had left him and returned to live with her mother. He went to the house. He said he intended to frighten her that he would kill himself if she did not return. He wired a shotgun to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.223130

Citations:

(1919) 14 Cr App R 1

Cited by:

Cited – Woolmington v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-May-1935
Golden Thread of British Justice – Proof of Intent
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of his wife. She had left him and returned to live with her mother. He went to the house. He said he intended to frighten her that he would kill himself if she did not return. He wired a shotgun to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.223132

A protestant preacher in Liverpool was held to be liable to be bound over to keep the peace upon proof that he habitually accompanied his public speeches with behaviour calculated to insult Roman Catholics. His actions had caused, and were liable to cause, breaches of the peace by his opponents and supporters. The court rejected his argument that he could not be held responsible for any breaches of the peace that occurred since an unlawful act could not be regarded as the natural consequence of his insulting or abusive language or conduct.
Alverstone CJ: ‘there must be an act of the defendant, the natural consequence of which, if his act be not unlawful in itself, would be to produce an unlawful act by other persons.’

Judges:

Lord Alverstone CJ, Darling and Channell JJ

Citations:

[1902] 1 KB 167

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 23-Jul-1999
The police had arrested three peaceful but vociferous preachers when some members of a crowd gathered round them threatened hostility.
Held: Freedom of speech means nothing unless it includes the freedom to be irritating, contentious, . .
Approved – Regina v Nicol and Selvanayagam QBD 10-Nov-1995
The appellants appealed a bind-over for a finding that each appellant had been guilty of conduct whereby a breach of the peace was likely to be occasioned. The appellants, concerned about cruelty to animals, had obstructed an angling competition by . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.221598

K was aged 21 when he had intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 and faced counts of unlawful carnal knowledge and indecent assault, the facts relied on in relation to both sets of counts being the same. The mother of the victim gave evidence that at the time of the relevant events the girl looked 18, and but for the recent increase in the minimum age of marriage the two would have been married. The defendant was acquitted on the carnal knowledge count, no doubt in reliance on the statutory defence, but was convicted on the indecent assault count.
Held: The 1922 Act was described as ‘grotesque’ and the legislation as ‘amazing’. However the conviction was upheld and the sentence of one month’s imprisonment reduced to one day, which permitted the immediate discharge of the defendant.

Judges:

Lord Hewart CJ

Citations:

(1929) 21 Cr App R 125

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v K HL 25-Jul-2001
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.220566

The defendant had intercourse with a girl aged 15 years and 9 months. He was about a year older.
Held: He could rely on the statutory defence to a charge laid against him under section 5 of the 1885 Act, but he had pleaded guilty to a count of indecent assault arising out of the same incident. Lord Hewart CJ said that it was ‘a grotesque state of affairs that the law offers a defence upon the major charge, but excludes that defence if the minor charge is preferred’. Nevertheless the conviction was upheld. The defendant’s sentence of four months’ imprisonment was reduced to a nominal sentence of one day.

Judges:

Lord Hewart CJ

Citations:

(1928) 21 Cr App R 45

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v K HL 25-Jul-2001
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.220565

The jury were advised of the need to consider whether a child had been born alive: ‘. . i.e. whether it existed as a live child, breathing and living by reason of breathing through its own lungs alone, without deriving any of its living or power of living by or through any connection with its mother.’

Judges:

Brett J

Citations:

(1874) 13 Cox 79

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In Re A (Minors) (Conjoined Twins: Medical Treatment); aka In re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) CA 22-Sep-2000
Twins were conjoined (Siamese). Medically, both could not survive, and one was dependent upon the vital organs of the other. Doctors applied for permission to separate the twins which would be followed by the inevitable death of one of them. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.211403

The court considered whether international law could form part of the criminal law of England
Lord Alverstone CJ said: ‘The second proposition urged by Lord Robert Cecil, that international law forms part of the law of England, requires a word of explanation and comment. It is quite true that whatever has received the common consent of civilised nations must have received the assent of our country, and that to which we have assented along with other nations in general may properly be called international law, and as such will be acknowledged and applied by our municipal tribunals when legitimate occasion arises for those tribunals to try questions to which doctrines of international law may be relevant. But any doctrines there invoked must be ones really accepted as binding between nations, and the international law sought to be applied, must, like anything else, be proved by satisfactory evidence, which must show either that the particular proposition put forward has been recognised and acted upon by our own country, or that it is of such a nature and has been so widely and generally accepted, that it can hardly be supposed that any civilised state would repudiate it.’

Judges:

Lord Alverstone CJ

Citations:

[1905] 2 KB 391

Cited by:

Cited – Jones and Milling, Olditch and Pritchard, and Richards v Gloucestershire Crown Prosecution Service CACD 21-Jul-2004
The court considered the extent to which the defendants in the proceedings can rely on their beliefs as to the unlawfulness of the United Kingdom’s actions in preparing for, declaring, and waging war in Iraq in 2003 in a defence to a charge of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.200230

Conspiracy over international borders – comity rule applied to provide jurisdiction.

Citations:

(1991) 92 Cr App R 115

Citing:

Applied – Somchai Liangsiriprasert v Government of the United States of America PC 1991
(Hong Kong) Application was made for the defendant’s extradition from Hong Kong to the USA. The question was whether a conspiracy entered into outside Hong Kong with the intention of committing the criminal offence of trafficking in drugs in Hong . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Manning CACD 24-Jun-1998
The defendant appealed his conviction for obtaining property by deception where part of the offence had taken place abroad.
Held: Smith should be overturned. The last act or terminatory theory remains the binding common law of England and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.196559

The defendant was aged 22 and the child between 13 and 16. There were six counts, three of carnal knowledge, three of indecent assault, arising from the same facts. He was acquitted on the carnal knowledge counts, plainly because he made good the statutory defence. He was convicted on the three counts of indecent assault.
Held: It was argued that the defendant could rely on a defence of mistaken fact based on the child’s age. Despite the ‘apparent absurdity resulting from this state of legislation’ the appeal was dismissed. But the trial judge had passed a nominal sentence of two days’ imprisonment to run from the first day of the assizes and this resulted in the immediate discharge of the defendant. A reasonable and honest belief that a girl was over sixteen could never be a defence to a charge of indecent assault.

Judges:

Lord Hewart CJ, Avory and Roche JJ

Citations:

(1934) 24 Cr App R 130

Citing:

Binding – Rex v Forde CCA 1923
A man, under the age of 23, had intercourse with a 15 year-old girl. He was charged with offences against section 5(1) of the 1885 Act and section 52 of the 1861 Act, relating to the same act of intercourse. He pleaded not guilty to the first (more . .

Cited by:

Cited – B (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-Feb-2000
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 . .
Cited – Regina v K HL 25-Jul-2001
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.195981

Meaning of possession of an offending article

Citations:

(1985) 81 Cr App 315

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Per Incuriam – McCalla, Regina v CACD 1988
A cosh had been found in the glove compartment of the appellant’s car. He said he had picked it up a month earlier, had put it away and had forgotten about it.
Held: The court reviewed the authorities on what constituted possession. Once . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.195977

(Crown Ct at Sheffield) There were nine counts in an indictment against a husband and a co-accused charging various offences of a sexual nature against an estranged wife. One of these was of rape as a principal.
Held: The whole concept of a marital exemption in rape was misconceived: ‘Were it not for the deeply unsatisfactory consequences of reaching any other conclusion on the point, I would shrink, if sadly, from adopting this radical view of the true position in law. But adopt it I do. Logically, I regard it as the only defensible stance, certainly now as the law has developed and arrived in the late twentieth century. In my judgment, the position in law today is; as already declared in Scotland, that there is no marital exemption to the law of rape. That is the ruling I give. Count seven accordingly remains and will be left to the jury without any specific direction. founded on the concept of marital exemption.’

Judges:

Simon Brown J

Citations:

[1991] 1 All ER 755

Citing:

Followed – S v HM Advocate HCJ 1989
Rape is regarded as an aggravated assault, of which the achievement of sexual intercourse is the worst aggravating feature. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v R HL 23-Oct-1991
H has no right to sexual intercourse with W – rape
The defendant appealed against his conviction for having raped his wife, saying that intercourse with his wife was necessarily lawful, and therefore outside the statutory definition of rape. Due to the matrimonial difficulties, the wife had left . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.194937

The appellant opened two bank accounts under an assumed name. There was no direct evidence of any understanding that the provision of banking services had been or would be paid for. The judge rejected a submission of no case to answer saying that it would be an affront to commonsense to think that banking services would be provided free of charge. The jury could infer from the opening of the bank accounts that the benefit conferred would be paid for, and he directed them accordingly.
Held: Appeal allowed. The matter should have been withdrawn from the jury. The inference which the jury were invited to draw was not something that they could conclude with any safety or satisfaction.

Citations:

[1995] Crim LR 893

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Applied – Sofroniou v Regina CACD 18-Dec-2003
The defendant appealed conviction on charges of obtaining services by deception under the section. He had obtained a credit card dishonestly and operated bank accounts dishonestly over a period of time.
Held: His acts could constitute the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.190225

Citations:

[1978] 68 Cr App R 183

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.190051

The defendant appealed against his conviction for causing grievous bodily harm. The victim had been a 17 month old child who had received bruising and abrasions to her body arms and legs.
Held: The judge had been correct to say that what constituted grievous bodily harm had to be looked at in the context of the person harmed. It was not necessary to prove that the harm was life-threatening or dangerous or permanent. It was a decision for the jury. Such injuries would have been less serious on a grown adult, and the jury could properly allow for that.

Judges:

Woolf LCJ, Gibbs, Fulford JJ

Citations:

Times 15-Dec-2003, [2004] 2 Cr App R 6

Statutes:

Offences Against the Person Act 1891

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Golding, Regina v CACD 8-May-2014
The defendant appealed against his conviction on a guilty plea, of inflicting grievous bodily harm under section 20. He suffered genital herpes, but had unprotected sex and acknowledged acting recklessly. He said that the prosecution had failed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.189948

The defendant appealed against a conviction for allowing her premises to be used for smoking cannabis. There was evidence of permission and of possession of items which would be used, but there had been no evidence of actual use.
Held: To establish the offence, the court had to be shown evidence that the premises had actually been used for the purpose.

Judges:

Kay LJ, Douglas Brown J, Sir Michael Wright

Citations:

Times 15-Dec-2003, Gazette 05-Feb-2004

Statutes:

Misuses of Drugs Act 1971 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.189949

The defendant appealed her conviction for theft. She had involved herself in the sale of an elderly relatives house and arranged for a new house to be bought in her and another name.
Held: Hilton was to be distinguished. There, the defendant had carried out a clear act of misappropriation. Here the owner had been deceived into parting with ownership. No case could be found where the act of approriation was the act of the victim. If it was a theft, there would be less theoretical need for the several varieties of deception. The word appropriation connotes a physical act. Since the prosecution had explicitly chosen not to allow a charge of deception, it would not now be allowed to substitute such a charge.

Judges:

Judge LJ, Silber Cox JJ

Citations:

Times 17-Dec-2003

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 3(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Naviede CACD 21-Mar-1997
The defendant appealed from his conviction for dishonesty. He said that he should have allowed hi to represent himself as to certain aspect of his case, but to have legal representation for others.
Held: The judge was right to reject such a . .
Cited – Regina v Preddy; Regina v Slade; Regina v Dhillon (Conjoined Appeals) HL 10-Jul-1996
The appellants were said to have made false mortgage applications. They appealed convictions for dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
Held: A chose in action created by an electronic bank transfer was not property which was capable of . .
Distinguished – Regina v Hilton CACD 7-Mar-1997
The defendant on a theft charge was a signatory on an account and caused money to be transferred to other accounts.
Held: The instructions to the bank had caused the transfers, and the defendant had therefore misappropriated the credit balance . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.189951

Citations:

[1998] 1 Cr App R 261

Citing:

Dicta approved – Regina v Gamble 1989
Four members of the Ulster Volunteer Force had combined to inflict punishment on an allegedly delinquent member of the organisation. The punishment was to consist of knee-capping (the firing of a bullet or bullets into a knee or other joint, so as . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Jenkins and Another CACD 14-Feb-2002
The decision in Smith (Morgan) does not prevent use of the expression ‘the reasonable man’ in the judge’s summing-up, in Weller, when considering how a jury should be directed on provocation, the court plainly regarded the relevant question as being . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.188891

The defendant was found guilty despite suffering from hypoglycaemia. He exercised control from time to time and only a total destruction of voluntary control is consistent with automatism.

Citations:

[1987] Crim LR 271

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.188798

Lord Lane CJ restated the principle underlying the responsibility of a secondary partner in a joint enterprise: ‘If B realises (without agreeing to such conduct being used) that A may kill or intentionally inflict serious injury, but nevertheless continues to participate with A in the venture, that will amount to a sufficient element for B to be guilty of murder if A, with the requisite intent, kills in the course of the venture. As Professor Smith points out, B has in those circumstances lent himself to the enterprise and by so doing he has given assistance and encouragement to A in carrying out an enterprise which B realises may involve murder.’

Judges:

Lord Lane CJ

Citations:

[1990] CLY 119, [1991] 1 QB 134, [1990] 3 WLR 1115, [1990] 134 SJ 1190, [1990] 3 All ER 892, (1991) 92 Cr App R 131, [1991] Crim LR 133, [1991] 155 JP 430, [1991] 155 JPN 58

Cited by:

Approved – Hui Chi-ming v The Queen PC 5-Aug-1991
(Hong Kong) The defendant was charged with aiding and abetting a murder. A, carrying a length of water pipe and accompanied by the defendant and four other youths, seized a man and A hit him with the pipe, causing injuries from which he died. No . .
Cited – Rahman and Others, Regina v HL 2-Jul-2008
The defendants appealed against their convictions for murder. None had themselves inflicted any violence, but were convicted as part of a joint enterprise. They said they had not known that the principal carried a knife. They said that the evidence . .
Cited – Jogee and Ruddock (Jamaica) v The Queen SC 18-Feb-2016
Joint Enterprise Murder
(and in Privy Council) The two defendants appealed against their convictions (one in Jamaica) for murder, under the law of joint enterprise. Each had been an accessory when their accomplice killed a victim with a knife. The judge in Jogee had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.187396

Logical inconsistency is generally an essential prerequisite for success of an appeal against conviction on the ground of inconsistency of verdicts.

Judges:

Edmund Davies LJ

Citations:

(1972) 56 Cr App R 708

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Warner CACD 17-Feb-1997
The defendant appealed convictions for indecent assault, saying that convictions on some counts and acquittals on others were so inconsistent as to call the convictions into question, showing acceptance of the complainant’s evidence on some counts . .
Cited – Regina v Van Der Molen CACD 20-Feb-1997
The appellant had been acquitted of rape, but convicted of indecent assault.
Held: ‘It did not follow that because the jury must have disbelieved a witness or rejected his or her evidence with the result that it acquitted on one count, it was . .
Cited – Regina v B CACD 15-May-1997
The Court upheld a conviction in respect of an Appellant who had been convicted of three offences on a six-count indictment. He was acquitted of the other three. In respect of each of the six counts the Prosecution relied upon the uncorroborated . .
Cited – Regina v McCluskey CACD 4-Jun-1993
The consent of the Court of Appeal was needed to sanction any jury enquiry. . .
Cited – Regina v B CACD 15-May-1997
The Court upheld a conviction in respect of an Appellant who had been convicted of three offences on a six-count indictment. He was acquitted of the other three. In respect of each of the six counts the Prosecution relied upon the uncorroborated . .
Cited – Regina v Clarke and Fletcher CACD 30-Jul-1997
Hutchison LJ said: ‘The way in which this Court should approach an appeal against conviction, based on allegedly inconsistent verdicts is well settled. To succeed the appellant must show first the verdicts are logically inconsistent, and secondly, . .
Cited – Muhib, Regina v CACD 13-Jan-1998
The defendant appealed against his conviction for manslaughter saying that the jury had returned inconsistent verdicts,
Held: ‘there is no possible logical inconsistency in the jury returning a verdict of manslaughter in relation to one victim . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.185678

Citations:

[1991] 2 QB 249

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Walls CACD 30-Oct-2002
The defendant had been made the subject of a confiscation order. He appealed, saying that in calculating the assets, he had taken the gross value of his property without allowing for an outstanding mortgage.
Held: The mortgage advance was not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.183170

Citations:

[1991] Crim LR 856

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Confirmed – Regina v Jones (Anthony William) HL 20-Feb-2002
The defendant absconded, and did not appear for his trial despite several listings. The trial proceeded in his absence entirely. After arrest, he appealed, saying that he had not had a fair trial.
Held: It was not suggested that he did not . .
Cited – Houghton v Stannard QBD 29-Oct-2003
. .
Cited – Morsby v Tower Bridge Magistrates’ Court Admn 31-Oct-2007
The claimant sought judicial review of the magistrates refusal to set aside a conviction entered in his absence. He had been in custody and not produced for the hearing.
Held: The review was granted. The judge had not established that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.183426

Citations:

(1987) Crim LR 505

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Ryan CACD 31-Oct-1996
The defendant appealed convictions for possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He had been seen apparently passing packages to individuals outside a pub, and cannabis wraps were found on him, but no money. The judge directed the jury, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.183332

Citations:

[1983] 5 Cr App R (S) 11

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Munir and Another CACD 14-May-2002
When looking for guidelines to sentence those convicting of making fake passports on a commercial basis, it was proper to take as comparable guidelines on sentencing for making counterfeit money. Nevertheless in this case, the judge had wrongly been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.182976

The appellants had been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but convicted by the jury of unlawful wounding. They appealed, saying they should have been convicted of the offence alleged or not at all.
Held: Under the Offences against the Persons Act 1891 on a charge of wounding with intent there could be a conviction for unlawful wounding and the verdict stood.

Citations:

[1957] Crim LR 258

Statutes:

Offences against the Persons Act 1891

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Distinguished – Regina v Flood CCA 1914
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.183090

Lord Denman CJ directed a jury on a trial for blasphemous libel: ‘Because, a difference of opinion may subsist, not only as between different sects of Christians, but also with regard to the great doctrines of Christianity itself . . even discussions on that subject may be by no means a matter of criminal prosecution but, if they be carried on in a sober and temperate and decent style even those discussions may be tolerated and may take place without criminality attaching to them; but that if the tone and spirit is that of offence and insult and ridicule, which leaves the judgment really not free to act and therefore cannot be truly called an appeal to the judgment but an appeal to the wild and improper feelings of the human mind, more particularly in the younger part of the community, in that case the jury will hardly feel it possible to say that such opinions, so expressed, do not deserve the character which is affixed to them in this indictment.’

Judges:

Lord Denman CJ

Citations:

(1841) 4 St Tr N S 563

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Applied – Whitehouse v Lemon; Whitehouse v Gay News Ltd HL 21-Feb-1979
The appellants challenged their conviction for blasphemous libel. They had published a poem which described homosexual acts carried out on the body of Christ after his death.
Held: For a conviction, it was necessary to show that the defendant . .
Cited – Whitehouse v Lemon; Whitehouse v Gay News Ltd CA 1979
The defendants, editors and publisher respectively of ‘Gay News’ had been accused of blasphemous libel. The magazine had a poem entitled ‘The love that dare not Speak its Name’. it is not a necessary part of the offence that there should be an . .
Cited – Green, Regina (on the Application of) v The City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Thoday, Thompson Admn 5-Dec-2007
The claimant appealed from the refusal by the magistrate to issue summonses for the prosecution for blashemous libel of the Director General of the BBC and the producers of a show entitled ‘Jerry Springer – The Opera.’
Held: The gist of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.182794

Citations:

(1898) 14 TLR 229

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Brown (Anthony); Regina v Lucas; etc HL 11-Mar-1993
The appellants had been convicted of assault, after having engaged in consensual acts of sado-masochism in which they inflicted varying degreees of physical self harm. They had pleaded guilty after a ruling that the prosecution had not needed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.182257

The defendant shot an airgun at a group of people. He hit someone just below the eye, causing bruising, but not breaking the skin. One blood vessel at least below the skin burst.
Held: His conviction was set aside. A conviction under section 20 for wounding required evidence of a break in the continuity of the skin. A scratch is insufficient, there needed to be a breach in the whole of the skin, and not merely the outer layer called the epidermis or the cuticles, in order to establish a wound.

Citations:

[1983] 3 All ER 230, [1983] Crim L R 567

Statutes:

Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 20

Citing:

Applied – Regina v Levi Warman 1846
An indictment for murder, by inflicting a mortal wound, is supported by proof of a blow, which caused an internal breach of the skin, though externally there were only the appearances of a bruise. Quaere, Whether such an allegation would have been . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Brown (Anthony); Regina v Lucas; etc HL 11-Mar-1993
The appellants had been convicted of assault, after having engaged in consensual acts of sado-masochism in which they inflicted varying degreees of physical self harm. They had pleaded guilty after a ruling that the prosecution had not needed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.182084