The court was asked whether a person said to be incited to commit an offence was required to have the necessary mens rea to commit that offence.

Citations:

[1968] 2 QB 944

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Criticised – Regina v Claydon CACD 9-Nov-2005
The defendant appealed his conviction for inciting a 13 year old boy to bugger him.
Held: Under fourteen, there was a common law presumption that a child under 14 was incpable of sexual intercourse, and therefore it was not possible to incite . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.236326

The court considered the situation applying where a case alleging conspiracy proceeded differently against two defendants. Lord Lane CJ said: ‘Where at the close of the prosecution case the evidence against one of the defendants is such that it would be unsafe to ask any jury to convict, then it goes without saying that the judge should so rule, and the case can then continue against the other defendant.
There will, however, be cases where the evidence against A and B is of equal weight or nearly so. In such a case there may be a risk of inconsistent verdicts, and the judge should direct the jury that because of the similarity of the evidence against each, the only just result would be the same verdict in respect of each: that is to say, both guilty or both not guilty. He must be careful to add, however, that if they are unsure about the guilt of one, then both must be found not guilty.
Whether he gives such a direction will, of course, depend on the way the evidence has emerged. The test is this. Is the evidence such that a verdict of guilty in respect of A and not guilty in respect of B would be, to all intents and purposes, inexplicable and therefore inconsistent? If so, it would be an occasion for the ‘both guilty or both not guilty’ direction. If not, then the separate verdict direction is required.’

Judges:

Lord Lane CJ

Citations:

[1981] 72 Cr App 121

Statutes:

Criminal Law Act 1977 5(8)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Testouri, Regina v CACD 2-Dec-2003
The appellant challenged his conviction for conspiracy, saying that where only two parties were alleged to have been involved, differing verdicts could not be returned.
Held: The appeal was allowed. ‘In any case where what is alleged is a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.234973

The appellant, had been convicted of conspiring to cause a public nuisance had agreed with others to secure the unlawful release of a restricted Broadmoor patient.
Held: The appeal failed. The court rejected an argument, based on R v Madden that the Crown had failed to prove any actual danger.

Citations:

(1980) 70 Cr App R 295

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: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.231628

The House considered the mens rea required to establish conspiracy. Lord Bridge said: ‘[B]eyond the mere fact of agreement, the necessary mens rea of the crime is, in my opinion, established if, and only if, it is shown that the accused, when he entered into the agreement, intended to play some part in the agreed course of conduct in furtherance of the criminal purpose which the agreed course of conduct was intended to achieve. Nothing less will suffice; nothing more is required.’

Judges:

Lord Bridge

Citations:

[1986] 2 AC 27

Cited by:

Cited – Kadre v Government of France and Another Admn 29-Jul-2005
The applicant sought habeas corpus to prevent his extradition to France.
Held: The English court was not to be concerned with facts underlying an extradition request. The laws of France were framed differently, but the facts alleged would . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.229225

The court considered the effect on a conviction of a failure by defence counsel. After considering the authorities: ‘It can only be said to have resulted in a miscarriage of justice if it has deprived the accused of his right to a fair trial. That can only be said to have occurred where the conduct was such that the accused’s defence was not presented to the court. This may be because the accused was deprived of the opportunity to present his defence, or because his counsel or solicitor acted contrary to his instructions as to the defence which he wished to be put or because of other conduct which had the effect that, because his defence was not presented to the court, a fair trial was denied to him.’

Judges:

The Lord Justice General (Hope

Citations:

1996 JC 29

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Citing:

Cited – Regina v McLoughin 1985
(New Zealand) The court considered the effect of failure of defence counsel on trial. Counsel had elected not to call alibi evidence in the face of his client’s instructions to do so.
Held: ‘The reason, it appears, was that counsel thought the . .
Cited – Mills and Others v The Queen PC 1-Mar-1995
A judge’s identification direction need not always warn on the need for witnesses to be convincing. An unsworn statement from a defendant is significantly inferior to oral evidence. . .
Cited – Lawrence Pat Sankar v State of Trinidad and Tobago PC 16-Dec-1994
(Trinidad and Tobago) An advocate’s failure to advise his client on the need for him to give evidence, and the consequences of his not doing so may be enough to justify an appeal against conviction. . .
Cited – Regina v Clinton CACD 1993
Where counsel’s conduct is called in question, the general principle requires the court to focus on the impact of the faulty conduct on the trial and result. . .
Cited – Regina v Birks 1990
The court looked at Counsel’s failure to represent defendant properly. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Bally Sheng Balson v The State PC 2-Feb-2005
PC (Dominica) The appellant had been convicted of the murder of his partner and appealed the conviction.
Held: The case did not fall within the case of Anderson, and counsel’s failure was not such as to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.226130

The defendant and his associate drank substantial quantities of cider. They then fought and the defendant killed the associate. His defence was that he mistakenly thought his friend was attacking him. He appealed his conviction for manslaughter.
Held: The crime of murder required a specific intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm. Manslaughter did not. The conviction for manslaughter stood. A defendant cannot establish self-defence by means of a mistake induced only through a self-induced intoxication. The court had to balance two interests, first that a defendant should be free to defend himself according to his perceptions, and the need to protect others from a drunken mistake.

Judges:

Lord Lane LCJ

Citations:

[1987] 3 WLR 321, [1987] 1 QB 995

Citing:

Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Majewski HL 1976
The defendant took a cocktail of drink and drugs and, whilst intoxicated, assaulted pub landlord. He said that he did not know what he was doing, and had no mens rea, that self-induced intoxication could be a defence to a charge of assault, and that . .
Cited – Regina v Williams (Gladstone) CACD 28-Nov-1983
The defendant believed that the person whom he assaulted was unlawfully assaulting a third party. That person was a police officer, who said he was arresting the other, but did not show his warrant card.
Held: The court considered the issue of . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Hatton (Jonathan) CACD 26-Oct-2005
The defendant appealed his conviction for murder saying that his defence of having killed by virtue of a mistake which arose from his self-induced intoxication should have been allowed.
Held: The appeal failed. It had been argued that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.223561

Lord Atkin said: ‘[A]n essential principle of our criminal law that the trial for an indictable offence has to be conducted in the presence of the accused; and for this purpose trial means the whole of the proceedings, including sentence.’

Judges:

Lord Atkin

Citations:

[1933] AC 699

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: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.223133

The defendant had approached the complainant as she walked at night to post a letter. When she declined to have sex with him, he grabbed her track suit bottoms by the pcket. She ran off. He appealed conviction for sexual assault, saying that the touching had not been sexual.
Held: To decide whether a touching was sexual, the court had first to ask whether it might be sexual because of the nature of the touching, and secondly whether the circumstances surrounding the touching made it sexual. Where a person was wearing clothing, the touching of that clothing was a touching of the person. The words spoken by the defendant made the touching which followed sexual. Appeal dismissed.

Judges:

Lord Woolf LCJ, Davis, Field JJ

Citations:

Times 08-Feb-2005

Statutes:

Sexual Offences Act 2003 78(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.223076

The defendants tried to cut the wire fence around an American Air Force base to demonstrate their opposition to nuclear weapons. They were charged with possession of an article with intent to damage property. The judge ruled that the purported reason for having the articles did not fall within the definition of a lawful excuse and, therefore, no evidence to that effect could be called. A ground of appeal was that the judge erred.
Held: Whether or not an act was done or made in order to protect property belonging to another must be, on the true construction of the statute, an objective test and the judge had ruled correctly.

Citations:

(1988) Crim LR 682

Statutes:

Criminal Damage Act 1971

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kelleher, Regina v CACD 20-Nov-2003
The defendant, out of strong conviction, entered an art gallery and knocked the head from a statue of Margaret Thatcher.
Held: The court examined the breadth of the defence of ‘lawful excuse’ to a charge of criminal damage, and whether a court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.222706

A bind-over was upheld on people who had noisily and turbulently disrupted a pheasant shoot.

Citations:

(1992) 95 Cr App R 215

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, . .
Cited – Westminster City Council v Owadally and Another Admn 17-May-2017
Defendant must plea to charge, and not counsel
The defendants had, through their barrister, entered pleas of guilty, but the crown court had declared the convictions invalid because this had to have been done by the defendants personally, and remitted the cases and the confiscation proceedings . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.221601

The Act provided that on a trial for rape the jury, if not satisfied that the defendant was guilty of rape but satisfied that he was guilty of having intercourse with a girl aged between 13 and 16, contrary to section 5(1) of the Act, might convict of the latter offence. The prosecutor opened the case as one in which that course could be adopted. The court questioned whether that was permissible where (as was the case) more than three months (the time limit for prosecution under section 5) had elapsed between the conduct alleged and the prosecution, and ruled: ‘The conclusion I have come to is that you cannot go on with the charge under section 5, more than three months having elapsed since the last commission of the offence. In substance, if this could be done, by shaping your charge as a charge of rape, you could always evade the statutory limit of time. In a case such as this, it would be the more reasonable construction of the sections to hold that the time must be considered as the essence of the charge. In substance, an indictment of rape under circumstances such as these must be treated as a charge of the lesser offence.’ The jury acquitted the defendant of rape, and he was discharged.

Judges:

Pollock B

Citations:

(1896) 60 JP 824

Statutes:

Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 9

Cited by:

Approved – Regina v Blight 1903
(New Zealand) The Criminal Code in force at the time, reflecting the English, included an offence of sexual intercourse with a girl under 16, to which a one month time limit applied, and also an offence of indecent assault to which no time limit . .
Cited – Regina v J HL 14-Oct-2004
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 . .
Cited – Timmins, Regina v CACD 15-Nov-2005
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 . .
Doubted – Regina v J HL 14-Oct-2004
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.216522

The House analysed the authorities on the law of larceny and robbery, and declared its current state. While in earlier times robbery may have been limited to where there was actual violence, it became sufficient that there was ‘a putting in fear of violence as by a threat of violence’.
Lord Pearce discussed the common law elements of robbery: ‘The essence of the offence is that violence is done or threatened to the person of the custodian who stands between the robber and the property in order to prevent or overcome his resistance and oblige him to part with the property and submit to the thief stealing it.’

Judges:

Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest

Citations:

[1965] AC 960

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Desmond CCA 1964
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Gomez HL 3-Dec-1992
The defendant worked as a shop assistant. He had persuaded the manager to accept in payment for goods, two cheques which he knew to be stolen. The CA had decided that since the ownership of the goods was transferred on the sale, no appropriation of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.214202

The trial judge had held that a telex message requesting payment of andpound;960,000 had been ‘executed’ because it had been put into effect.
Held: A valuable security was not executed when the drawer’s bank acted upon the cheque, or request for payment. There was required to be an act with respect to the face of the document, either a signature, or completing performance of the formalities making up its validity. The wider meaning of ‘execution’ in the section was disapproved; it meant more than just ‘give effect to’.

Judges:

Lord Ackner

Citations:

[1992] 1 AC 9, [1991] 3 WLR 254, [1991] 3 All ER 713, Times 19-Jul-1991

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 20(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Gomez HL 3-Dec-1992
The defendant worked as a shop assistant. He had persuaded the manager to accept in payment for goods, two cheques which he knew to be stolen. The CA had decided that since the ownership of the goods was transferred on the sale, no appropriation of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.214205

(Hong Kong) The defendant was indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, the allegation being that the false accounting offences had been committed in order to conceal the conspiracy. The Crown sought to rely on the cover-up they were alleging to show that the defendant had contributed to the delay.
Held: ‘However the difficulty in the way of [that submission] is that unless and until the defendant’s guilt or innocence was established at the trial, it would not be known whether the defendant had been responsible for concealing the fraud offence. His involvement was the very question around which the trial would revolve … In relation to conduct which will be an issue at the trial, the correct approach is for the judge to bear in mind the nature of the Prosecution’s case as part of the factual background against which the alleged delay has to be considered and not as necessarily being a bar to the application succeeding. In this case there can be no doubt that Duffy J was well aware of this and there is nothing in his judgment to indicate that he did not give due consideration to the nature of the Prosecution’s case in reaching his decision to grant a stay. ‘ and ‘There remains the question as to whether Duffy J. was correct in saying that there is no material distinction between the onus on a defendant who seeks to have a prosecution stayed as being an abuse of process at common law and the onus which faces a defendant who wishes to establish that he is entitled to have the proceedings stayed under the Bill of Rights. Mr. Nicholls having accepted that, if there was any distinction between the approach at common law and under the Bill, this distinction could not avail him on this appeal, their Lordships had to decide whether to determine this issue. In the circumstances their Lordships decided not to do so and did not call on Mr. Robertson to address the Board as they had already decided that his help was not needed as to the outcome of the appeal. Their Lordships recognise that it is possible to argue that there is a difference of approach at common law and under the Bill. However, as any difference in the approach to be adopted is only likely to be of significance in a very small minority of applications for stay, their Lordships have decided that it is preferable not to determine the extent of the difference in this case, where it would be merely an academic exercise, but to leave it to be determined in a case where the existence of the difference would materially affect the result of the appeal. The issue is one which can be more satisfactorily examined in the context of a case where a difference in approach could have practical consequences.’

Judges:

Lord Woolf

Citations:

[1994] 1 AC 1

Jurisdiction:

Commonwealth

Cited by:

Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions and others v Tokai and others PC 12-Jun-1996
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant had been charged in 1981 with offences alleged to have been committed shortly before. The proceedings continued until his appeal for one was dismissed in 1988. The wounding charges were proceeded with only in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.211433

In summing up in a murder trial: ‘With respect to the birth, being born must mean that the whole body is brought into the world . . Whether the child was born alive or not depends mainly on the evidence of the medical men.’

Judges:

Littledale J

Citations:

(1832) 5 C and P 329, [1832] EngR 613, (1832) 5 Car and P 329, (1832) 172 ER 997

Links:

Commonlii

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: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.211402

Citations:

[2001] NICA 44

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.201994

One cannot deceive a machine, since it does not have a mind. This may not be the case for the purposes of the Theft Acts.

Judges:

Ackner, Bridge JJ

Citations:

[1973] RTR 8

Cited by:

Cited – Holmes v Governor of Brixton Prison and Another Admn 20-Aug-2004
The applicant sought his release from imprisonment where he awaited extradition to Germany. He was suspected of an offence of deception. He said there was insufficient evidence that the offence alleged would be an offence here. The alleged offence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.200474

A defendant could be convicted of a racially aggravated offence when he used racially abusive language towards another of his own ethnicity when committing the underlying offence. The prosecutor’s appeal was allowed.

Judges:

Maurice Kay LJ, Rafferty J

Citations:

Times 06-May-2004

Statutes:

Public Order Act 1996 5, Crime and Disorder Act 1998 28

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.199330

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:

Official Secrets Act 1920

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.198835

The offence alleged inducing persons to ‘take part’ in arrangements relating to property under the section. The participation had taken place partly in this country and partly abroad.
Held: If the ‘last constituent element’ is a continuing or complex act, the courts of this country have jurisdiction if any part of that act is committed in England and Wales: ‘lurking behind the question of construction of the statute lies a question as to whether the particular facts of this case which I have summarised disclose any offence that is punishable under English law. To answer this question in the instant case does not, in my view, call for any wide-roving inquiry into the territorial ambit of English criminal law. The offences with which the appellant was charged were ‘result crimes’ of the same general nature as the offence of obtaining goods on credit by false pretences.’ The case was justiciable by an English court if any part of the proscribed result takes place in England.

Judges:

Lord Diplock

Citations:

[1976] AC 35

Statutes:

Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958 13(1)(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Ellis 1899
In the case of what is a result crime in English Law, the offence is committed in England and justiciable by an English court if any part of the proscribed result takes place in England. The gist of the offence of obtaining by false pretences lies . .

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: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196556

The appellant, in Kuwait, had fraudulently caused a bank there to credit his bank balances in England.
Held: The court discussed its jurisdiction: ‘It is of course a basic principle of our criminal law that no British subject can be tried under English law for an offence committed on land abroad, unless there is a statutory provision to the contrary. In so far as offences under section 15 of the Theft Act are concerned, it is accepted on both sides in this appeal that the question on the issue of jurisdiction in this territorial context is whether the obtaining of the property concerned occurred within the jurisdiction. If authority is required for that proposition it is to be found in HARDEN (1962) 46 Cr. App.R. 90; [1963] 1 Q.B. 8 and in Governor of Pentonville Prison, ex parte Khubchandani (1980) 71 Cr. App.R 241.’

Citations:

(1984) 79 Cr App R 191

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 15

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Governor of Pentonville Prison ex parte Khubchandani QBD 1980
The court considered whether certain conduct, part of which took place in Ghana, would, mutatis mutandis , have constituted an offence over which the English court had jurisdiction.
Held: ‘Where a deception is made in this country, but the . .
Cited – Regina v Harden 1962
The appellant, in England, sent false hire purchase agreements to a company in Jersey, who posted back cheques to him. The court analysed the transaction in contractual terms, and held that as the post office was the appellant’s agent to carry the . .
Applied – Director of Public Prosecutions v Stonehouse HL 1977
The defendant had been charged with attempting to obtain property by deception by fabricating his death by drowning in the sea off Miami in Florida. The final act alleged to constitute the offence occurred outside the jurisdiction of the English . .

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 . .
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 . .
Cited – Wang, Regina v HL 10-Feb-2005
The appellant was waiting for a train when his bag was stolen. After a search, the thief tried to deter the appellant from calling the police by suggesting that the bag contained items the appellant should not be carrying. From the bag the appellant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196564

The appellant, in England, sent false hire purchase agreements to a company in Jersey, who posted back cheques to him. The court analysed the transaction in contractual terms, and held that as the post office was the appellant’s agent to carry the cheques they had in law been ‘obtained’ by him in Jersey.
Held: As to jurisdiction, applying Ellis: ‘To support the charge, the obtaining relied upon must be an obtaining of the property in the thing charged, and not merely possession or control of it; and when this principle is applied to a cheque, it means that the accused obtains the cheque, when the victim makes actual delivery of it to him, or makes constructive delivery by handing the cheque to an agent duty appointed by the accused to receive it on his behalf.’

Citations:

(1962) 46 Cr App R 90, [1963] 1 QB 8

Statutes:

Larceny Act 1916 32(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Ellis 1899
In the case of what is a result crime in English Law, the offence is committed in England and justiciable by an English court if any part of the proscribed result takes place in England. The gist of the offence of obtaining by false pretences lies . .

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 . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Stonehouse HL 1977
The defendant had been charged with attempting to obtain property by deception by fabricating his death by drowning in the sea off Miami in Florida. The final act alleged to constitute the offence occurred outside the jurisdiction of the English . .
Followed – Governor of Pentonville Prison ex parte Khubchandani QBD 1980
The court considered whether certain conduct, part of which took place in Ghana, would, mutatis mutandis , have constituted an offence over which the English court had jurisdiction.
Held: ‘Where a deception is made in this country, but the . .
Cited – Regina v Thompson 1984
The appellant, in Kuwait, had fraudulently caused a bank there to credit his bank balances in England.
Held: The court discussed its jurisdiction: ‘It is of course a basic principle of our criminal law that no British subject can be tried . .
Cited – Treacy v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1970
Blackmail was alleged under section 21 of the 1968 Act, the letter making the unwarranted demand with menaces having been posted from England to an intended victim in Germany.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. To allow an English court to have . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 30-Jul-2009
Need for Certainty in Scope of Offence
The appellant suffered a severe chronic illness and anticipated that she might want to go to Switzerland to commit suicide. She would need her husband to accompany her, and sought an order requiring the respondent to provide clear guidelines on the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196562

Stolen travellers’ cheques were cashed in France and then presented through normal banking channels to a bank in England. The first and main ground of appeal was that no offence had been thereby committed within the jurisdiction of the Crown Court, because the ‘execution’ of the valuable security, by its ‘acceptance’, had taken place in France.
Held: ‘we see no good reason why there should not be a series of acceptances, ie executions, in respect of a traveller’s cheque, and provided the last of them, namely when the final act of payment on the cheque is made, occurs here, the Crown Court has jurisdiction to deal with the offence. ‘ The court held that, on the facts of that case, that is what had happened, and therefore the court had had jurisdiction to try the case

Judges:

Watkins LJ

Citations:

(1984) 80 Crim App R 355

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 20(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

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 . .
Distinguished – Regina v Nanayakkara CACD 1987
US Treasury social security orders were stolen in the USA, and brought to London, where they were endorsed at a bank for payment in the USA.
Held: On those facts the ‘acceptance’ of the bills could only have taken place in the USA, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196560

Blackmail was alleged under section 21 of the 1968 Act, the letter making the unwarranted demand with menaces having been posted from England to an intended victim in Germany.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. To allow an English court to have jurisdiction where elements of the offence occurred abroad, the last act constituting the actus reus had to be committed within the UK. ‘[W]e are willing to assume . . that the last constituent element does determine the place where the offence is committed. Where then is the offence of making a demand completed? . . The demand is not made when the threatening letter is written, because it may never be sent. But once the letter is posted, the demand is completed, and the offence of blackmail is committed.’ and ‘each sovereign State should refrain from punishing persons for their conduct within the territory of another sovereign State, where the conduct has had no harmful consequences within the territory which imposes the punishment.’ and ‘There is no rule of comity to prevent Parliament from prohibiting under pain of punishment persons who are present in the United Kingdom, and so owe local obedience of our law, from doing physical acts in England, notwithstanding that the consequences of those acts take effect outside the United Kingdom. Indeed, where the prohibited acts are of a kind calculated to cause harm to private individuals it would savour of chauvinism rather than comity to treat them as excusable merely on the ground that the victim was not in the United Kingdom itself but in some other state.’

Judges:

Lord Diplock

Citations:

(1970) 55 Cr App R 113, [1971] AC 537, [1971] 1 All ER 110

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Brixton Prison Governor, Ex Parte Rush QBD 1969
The court refused to return the applicant to Canada on a charge of conspiracy to defraud on the ground that the persons defrauded were all situated in the United States. The evidence did not disclose that the substantive crime contemplated by the . .
Cited – Regina v Harden 1962
The appellant, in England, sent false hire purchase agreements to a company in Jersey, who posted back cheques to him. The court analysed the transaction in contractual terms, and held that as the post office was the appellant’s agent to carry the . .

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 . .
Cited – 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 – Regina v Baxter 1972
The charge was attempting to obtain property by deception by posting letters from Northern Ireland to pools promoters in England. The demand had arrived in England and had been intended to do damage there.
Held: ‘The attempt to obtain the . .
Cited – Regina v Wall 1974
The charge was fraudulent evasion of the restriction on importation of dangerous drugs. For that offence to be committed, the drugs in question must necessarily arrive in this country.
Held: If sending a letter from abroad to England . .
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 . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 30-Jul-2009
Need for Certainty in Scope of Offence
The appellant suffered a severe chronic illness and anticipated that she might want to go to Switzerland to commit suicide. She would need her husband to accompany her, and sought an order requiring the respondent to provide clear guidelines on the . .
Cited – Sheppard and Another, Regina v CACD 29-Jan-2010
The defendants appealed against their convictions for publishing racially inflammatory material. They skipped bail during the trial, were convicted in their absence, and returned after being refused asylum in the US. The convictions related to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196555

Crown Court at Wakefield

Citations:

[1984] Crim LR 111

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

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: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.194938

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 2980 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.189135

Viscount Simon LC said: ‘as society advances, it ought to call for a higher measure of self-control in a defendant. And with regard to the defence of provocation to a charge of murder: ‘Consequently, where the provocation inspires an actual intention to kill . . or to inflict grievous bodily harm, the doctrine that provocation may reduce murder to manslaughter seldom applies. Only one very special exception has been recognised, viz, the actual finding of a spouse in the act of adultery.’

Judges:

Viscount Simon LC

Citations:

[1946] AC 588, (1946) 31 Cr App R 123

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Luc Thiet Thuan v The Queen PC 2-Apr-1996
(Hong Kong) On a trial for murder the defendant relied on the defences of diminished responsibility and provocation. Medical evidence showed the defendant suffered from brain damage and was prone to respond to minor provocation by losing his . .
Quoted – Ruth Ellis v Regina CACD 8-Dec-2003
In 1955, the deceased defendant was convicted of murder, and later hanged. The court considerd a post mortem appeal by the CRCC and her family. It was suggested that she should have been found guilty of manslaughter having been provoked by the . .
Explained – Lee Chun-Chuen v The Queen PC 1963
Their Lordships explained the meaning of the words of Viscount Salmon in Holmes: ‘It is plain that Viscount Simon must have meant the word ‘actual’ to have a limiting effect and that he had in mind some particular category of intention. He cannot . .
Cited – Ruth Ellis v Regina CACD 8-Dec-2003
In 1955, the deceased defendant was convicted of murder, and later hanged. The court considerd a post mortem appeal by the CRCC and her family. It was suggested that she should have been found guilty of manslaughter having been provoked by the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188888

Betts and Ridley agreed to rob a man on thw way to the bank. Betts was to push him to the ground and snatch the bag, while Ridley waited nearby in a car. When snatching the bag, Betts struck the victim who later died. Betts and Ridley were both convicted of murder.
Held: At common law, a person who commits a felony involving personal violence, does so at his own risk, and is guilty of murder if the violence results, even inadvertently, in the death of the victim. Ridley was in the circumstances a principal in the second degree to the robbery with violence which in fact took place: ‘and although it might be true to say that he had not agreed before-hand that Andrews should be struck upon the head in a way likely to cause his death, it is clear upon the authorities that if he was a party to this felonious act of robbery with violence – some violence – and that the other person, the principal in the first degree, in the course of carrying out that common design does an act which causes the death, then the principal in the second degree is equally responsible in law.’ Even if Betts did vary the manner of execution of the plan, since it was a plan to rob which involved some degree of violence, Ridley being present as a principal in the second degree was equally responsible.

Judges:

Avory J

Citations:

(1931) 22 Cr App R 148

Citing:

Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Beard HL 1920
The accused raped a girl aged thirteen whilst he was drunk. He placed his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming, but without any intention of injuring her. He caused her death by suffocation, and was convicted of murder. It was argued on his . .

Cited by:

Cited – Moses v The State PC 29-Jul-1996
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant had been convicted under the felony murder rule, where if a victim dies in the course of the defendant committing a felony, the defendant is guilty of murder.
Held: The distinction between felony and murder . .
Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Cited – Foster and Another v The Queen PC 23-Jan-2007
(Barbados) The appellants had been convicted under the felony murder rule, before its abolition in Barbados in 1994. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188589

In most cases where dishonesty is alleged, a Ghosh direction is not only unnecessary but also misleading.

Citations:

[1990] 90 Cr App R 409

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Ghosh CACD 5-Apr-1982
The defendant surgeon was said to have made false claims for payment for operations, and was charged under the 1968 Act. He claimed to have been entitled to the sums claimed, and denied that he had been dishonest. The court considered the meaning of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.187647

The defendant had been convicted under the Act, of having carnal knowledge of ‘a woman . . under care or treatment in an institution or certified house or approved home, or whilst placed out on licence therefrom.’ She was at an institution for defectives as a ‘moral defective’. At the time of the alleged offences, she was out on licence. The prosecution conceded that the order had first been made without proper evidence that she was a ‘moral defective’ and that it could be successfully challenged on an application for certiorari or a writ of habeas corpus.
Held: The Prosecutor’s appeal failed. The issue was the construction of section 56. Did the prosecution have to prove she was lawfully detained? Whilst detention established a prima facie case that a woman was a defective and lawfully under care, that presumption could be rebutted if the defendant showed that the detention was in fact unlawful. The prosecution had itself adduced the evidence from which the invalidity of the order appeared, but the defendant could have brought such evidence. If he had so that it could be quashed, the court would have to ask whether a defence was made out. (Lord Denning, minority) The order was valid as at the date of the alleged offence. That was enough. Even though it was voidable and therefore liable to be quashed on certiorari. The majority did not think it voidable rather than void, but also doubted that, even if voidable rather than void, a defendant could not raise the matter by way of defence. (Lord Somervell of Harrow) ‘Is a man to be sent to prison on the basis that an order is a good order when the court knows it would be set aside if proper proceedings were taken? I doubt it.’ It would be a fundamental wrong for an individual to be convicted for contravening a rule which is itself liable to be set aside by a court as unlawful’.

Judges:

Viscount Simonds, Lord Reid, Tucker and Somervell of Harrow, Lord Denning

Citations:

[1959] AC 83, [1958] 1 All ER 679

Statutes:

Mental Deficiency Act 1913 56(1)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Boddington v British Transport Police HL 2-Apr-1998
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.187057

The defendant faced charges of unlawfully and maliciously killing, maiming and wounding a mare under the Act.
Held: The trial judge was right to direct the jury to convict if they found that the defendant in fact intended to kill, maim or wound the mare or, in the alternative, that he knew that what he was doing would or might kill, maim or wound the mare and nevertheless did what he did recklessly and not caring whether the mare was injured or not.

Citations:

(1875) LR1 QBD 23

Statutes:

Malicious Damage 1861 40(1)

Citing:

Applied – Regina v Pembliton CCCR 1874
The defendant was fighting in the street. He picked up a large stone and threw it at the people he had been fighting with. He missed and broke a window causing damage of a value exceeding pounds 5. The jury convicted the defendant, although finding . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186779

A 14-year old girl of low intelligence entered a shed, poured white spirit on the floor and set it alight. The fire destroyed the shed after she left. The allegation was that she was reckless. The justices applied Caldwell but inferred that in his reference to ‘an obvious risk’ Lord Diplock had meant a risk which was obvious to the particular defendant, and acquitted her. Finding she had given no thought to the possibility of a risk that the shed and contents would be destroyed, and this risk would not have been obvious to her or appreciated by her if she had thought about the matter.
Held: Appeal allowed. (Glidewell J) ‘if the risk is one which would have been obvious to a reasonably prudent person, once it has also been proved that the particular defendant gave no thought to the possibility of there being such a risk, it is not a defence that because of limited intelligence or exhaustion she would not have appreciated the risk even if she had thought about it.’ (Robert Goff LJ) was reluctantly constrained by the authorities and plainly did not consider the outcome to be just.

Judges:

Robert Goff LJ, Glidewell J

Citations:

[1983] 1 WLR 939, [1983] 2 All ER 1005

Statutes:

Criminal Damage Act 1971 1

Citing:

Applied – Commissioner of Police v Caldwell HL 19-Mar-1981
The defendant got drunk and set fire to the hotel where he worked. Guests were present. He was indicted upon two counts of arson. He pleaded guilty to the 1(1) count but contested the 1(2) charge, saying he was so drunk that the thought there might . .
Cited – Regina v Lawrence (Stephen) HL 1981
The defendant had ridden a motor-cycle and hit a pedestrian. The court asked whether he had been reckless.
Held: The House understood recklessness as ‘a state of mind stopping short of deliberate intention, and going beyond mere inadvertence’ . .
Cited – Regina v Miller HL 17-Mar-1982
The defendant, a vagrant, fell asleep in an empty house. His lighted cigarette fell onto his mattress, and a fire started. Rather than put it out, he moved to another room. He was accused of arson.
Held: He was guilty. A defendant would be . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Cited – Regina v Stephen Malcolm R 1984
Malcom had thrown petrol bombs at the outside wall of the bedroom of a girl who he believed had informed on him in relation to a series of burglaries. He had admitted throwing the bombs but claimed he had done so to frighten the girl and without . .
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: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186789

Malcom had thrown petrol bombs at the outside wall of the bedroom of a girl who he believed had informed on him in relation to a series of burglaries. He had admitted throwing the bombs but claimed he had done so to frighten the girl and without realising that if a bomb had gone through the window it might have killed her. He was charged on the basis of recklessness. He submitted that when considering recklessness the jury could only convict him if he did an act which created a risk to life obvious to someone of his age and with such of his characteristics as would affect his appreciation of the risk. The trial judge ruled against him and pleaded guilty.
Held: If the House had wished to modify the Caldwell principle to allow for the age of the defendant, the opportunity had existed in Elliott v C. Though concerned at the principle the court had little doubt that on the facts of the case the answer would have been the same even if the jury had been able to draw a comparison with what a boy of the defendant’s age would have appreciated.

Citations:

(1984) 79 Cr App R

Statutes:

Criminal Damage Act 1971 1(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Elliott v C 1983
A 14-year old girl of low intelligence entered a shed, poured white spirit on the floor and set it alight. The fire destroyed the shed after she left. The allegation was that she was reckless. The justices applied Caldwell but inferred that in his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186790

The defendant was charged with setting fire to a dwelling house. The judge directed: ‘Again, if you think that the prisoner set fire to the frame of the picture with a knowledge that in all probability the house itself would thereby be set on fire, and that he was reckless and utterly indifferent whether the house caught fire or not, that is abundant evidence from which you may, if you think fit, draw the inference that he intended the probable consequences of his act, and if you draw that inference, then, inasmuch as the house was in fact set on fire through the medium of the picture frame, the prisoner’s crime would be that of arson.’

Citations:

(1882) 15 Cox CC 75

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186780

(Irish Court of Crown Cases Reserved) The defendant had set fire to a ship while stealing rum from its hold. He had been boring a hole by candlelight and some rum had spilled out and been ignited. It was conceded that he had not intended to burn the vessel, and his conviction was quashed. Barry J said: ‘[R v Pembliton] must be taken as deciding that to constitute an offence under the Malicious Injuries to Property Act, section 51, the act done must be in fact intentional and wilful, although the intention and will may (perhaps) be held to exist in, or be proved by, the fact that the accused knew that the injury would be the probable result of his unlawful act, and yet did the act reckless of such consequences.’

Judges:

Barry J

Citations:

(1877) 13 Cox 550

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Pembliton CCCR 1874
The defendant was fighting in the street. He picked up a large stone and threw it at the people he had been fighting with. He missed and broke a window causing damage of a value exceeding pounds 5. The jury convicted the defendant, although finding . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Cunningham CCA 1957
Specific Intention as to Damage Caused
(Court of Criminal Appeal) The defendant wrenched a gas meter from the wall to steal it. Gas escaped. He was charged with unlawfully and maliciously causing a noxious thing, namely coal gas, to be taken by the victim.
Held: Byrne J said: ‘We . .
Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186782

The defendant had not intended to set fire to a house and had thought that what he was doing would not do so. He was not guilty.

Citations:

(1871) LR1 CCR 307

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186781

If a person wrongfully and intentionally fires at another in such circumstances as would make the killing of that other person manslaughter, but by accident he hits and kills a third person whom he never intended to hit at all, the offence is manslaughter.

Citations:

(1913) 77 JP 352, 23 Cox CC 455

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.186599

The meaning of the word ‘obvious’ in a statute was in itself so clear that it should not be defined for a jury.

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Crim 137

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Marchant and Another CACD 21-Jul-2003
The second defendant, a farmer, employed the first defendant, inter alia, to drive his tractor. The tractor, when fitted up was necessarily dangerous, but was licensed to be driven on the roads. There was a fatal accident on the highway. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.185940

When considering whether an action constituted an indecent assault, the jury was to be asked whether ‘right-minded persons would consider the conduct indecent or not.’
Lord Ackner: ‘It was common ground before your Lordships, and indeed it is self evident, that the first stage in the proof of the offence is for the prosecution to establish an assault. The ‘assault’ usually relied upon is a battery the species of assault conveniently described by Lord Lane in Faulkner v Talbot [1981] 1 W.L.R. 1528 at 1534 as ‘any intentional touching of another person without the consent of that person and without lawful excuse. It need not necessarily be hostile or rude or aggressive, as some of the cases seem to indicate.’

Judges:

Ackner L

Citations:

[1989] AC 28

Citing:

Cited – Regina v George CCA 1952
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Price CACD 18-Jul-2003
The appellant had been convicted of indecent assault. When inspecting an apartment as a prosective tenant, with the complainant, he had stroked her legs, outside her clothing and below the knee. He appealed saying this was insufficient to constitute . .
Cited – Meachen, Regina v CACD 20-Oct-2006
The appellant appealed his conviction for anal rape. He said the incident had been consensual. He had administered a date rape drug. He said again that this had been consensual. The prosecution alleged that the injuries left were inconsistent with . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.185751

A court might consider three questions in determining whether there has been an execution of a valuable security within the meaning of those terms in the provisions of section 20(3) of the Theft Act 1968: ‘The first is to identify what the document does. The second, in the light of that, is to ask whether the document falls within any part of the definition of ‘valuable security’ as provided . . If it does, then the third stage is to ask, bearing in mind the wide terms of [s 22(3)], whether, in the respect in which the document is a valuable security, it has been executed.’ A CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System) order was held to be a valuable security. It created and transferred a right over property and it was evidence of that creation and transfer. It was also signed.

Citations:

[1992] QB 20, [1991] 3 All ER 705, [1991] Crim LR 906, (1991) 93 Cr App R 259, [1991] 3 WLR 246

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 20(3)

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.183257

The charge was of riot but that charge included an allegation of assault. The appellant was acquitted of riot but convicted of common assault and the conviction was upheld. The second charge was explicitly part of the original allegation.

Citations:

(1911) 6 Cr App R 108

Citing:

Applied – Rex v Hollingberry 1825
The court considered an allegation that the defendant had conspired to make a false charge against another.
Held: If the object of the conspiracy is extortion then the truth or falsity of the charge is immaterial. It was permissible for a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.183251

The House considered how to frame an indictment in a case of buggery where the prescribed punishment differed depending on the particular factual ingredients.
Held: Lord Diplock said: ‘Where it is provided by a statute that an accused person’s liability to have inflicted upon him a maximum punishment which, if the prosecution are successful in establishing the existence in his case of a particular factual ingredient, is greater than the maximum punishment that could be inflicted on him if the existence of that particular factual ingredient were not established, it seems to me to be plain beyond argument that Parliament has thereby created two distinct offences, whether the statute by which they are created does so by using language which treats them as being different species of a single genus of offence, or by using language which treats them as separate offences unrelated to one another. . The statement of offence in the instant case may therefore just pass muster, provided that it is supplemented by adequate particulars of offence which give to Courtie reasonable information as to which of the particular species of offences falling within the genus buggery, was the offence with which he was charged.’

Judges:

Lord Diplock

Citations:

[1984] 1 All ER 740 HL(E), [1984] 2 WLR 330, [1984] AC 463

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Benfield; Regina v Sobers CACD 21-Jul-2003
The defendants appealed life sentences for second serious offences under s109. They had been convicted of robbery.
Held: The offence of robbery existed at the time when the 200 Act was created, and it was inconceivable that the new Act . .
Cited – Regina v Bett CACD 12-Oct-1998
A conviction under section 8(b) for permitting premises to be used for the supply of controlled drugs was correct without evidence of knowledge of the particular drug supplied even though particular drugs were named in the indictments. The section . .
Cited – Regina v Shivpuri HL 15-May-1986
The defendant had been accused of attempting to import controlled drugs, but the substances actually found were not in fact a controlled drug, though he had believed and intended them to be. He appealed saying that he should not be conviced of an . .
Cited – Regina v Grout CACD 1-Mar-2011
The defendant appealed against conviction of intentionally causing a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Held: The conviction was quashed. The evidence did not establish one of the essential elements for a conviction. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Sentencing, Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.183157

Citations:

[1962] 46 Cr App R 129

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Kokogho and Kokogho CACD 31-Jul-1996
The defendants appealed convictions for fraud. It was alleged they had made multiple and false claims for housing and other benefits. Some evidence was admitted which should only have been admitted on the basis of it being similar fact evidence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.183122

Citations:

[1989] 90 Cr App R 340

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Hussain, Regina v Bhatti, Regina v Bhatti CACD 16-Jan-2002
It was possible to have an indictment which alleged a conspiracy to commit either one of two alternative offences. A conspiracy could clearly be to commit more than one offence. The phrase in the section ‘offence or offences’ should not be construed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.182890

Citations:

[1983] 76 Cr App Rep 110

Cited by:

Cited – Masquerade Music Ltd and Others v Bruce Springsteen CA 10-Apr-2001
The respondent was a composer who sought to restrict the import of CDs containing his music into the UK. The appellants responded putting him to strict proof of his title. The title included assignments from a partnership to limited companies, but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.182884

A breach of the peace does not constitute a criminal offence.

Citations:

[1948] 1 KB 260

Cited by:

Cited – Chief Constable of Cleveland Police v Mark Anthony McGrogan CA 12-Feb-2002
The Chief Constable appealed a finding of false imprisonment of the claimant. He had once been properly arrested, but before he was freed, it was decided that he should be held for court and an information laid alleging breach of the peace. They . .
Cited – Hashman and Harrup v The United Kingdom ECHR 25-Nov-1999
The defendants had been required to enter into a recognisance to be of good behaviour after disrupting a hunt by blowing of a hunting horn. They were found to have unlawfully caused danger to the dogs. Though there had been no breach of the peace, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.182870

The burden of establishing insanity in a criminal trial is on the defence on the balance of probabilities.
Lord Diplock said: ‘I agree with what was said by Devlin J. in Reg. v. Kemp (1957) 1 QB 399, 407, that ‘mind’ in the M’Naghten Rules is used in the ordinary sense of the mental faculties of reason, memory and understanding. If the effect of a disease is to impair these faculties so severely as to have either of the consequences referred to in the latter part of the rules, it matters not whether the aetiology of the impairment is organic, as in epilepsy, or functional, or whether the impairment itself is permanent or is transient and intermittent, provided that it subsisted at the time of commission of the act. The purpose of the legislation relating to the defence of insanity, ever since its origin in 1800, has been to protect society against recurrence of the dangerous conduct. The duration of a temporary suspension of the mental faculties of reason, memory and understanding, particularly if, as in Mr. Sullivan’s case, it is recurrent, cannot on any rational ground be relevant to the application by the courts of the M’Naghten Rules, though it may be relevant to the course adopted by the Secretary of State, to whom the responsibility for how the defendant is to be dealt with passes after the return of the special verdict of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity.’ To avoid misunderstanding I ought perhaps to add that in expressing my agreement with what was said by Devlin J. in Kemp, where the disease that caused the temporary and intermittent impairment of the mental faculties was arteriosclerosis, I do not regard that learned judge as excluding the possibility of non-insane automatism (for which the proper verdict would be a verdict of ‘not guilty’) in cases where temporary impairment (not being self-induced by consuming drink or drugs) results from some external physical factor such as a blow on the head causing concussion or the administration of an anaesthetic for therapeutic purposes.’

Judges:

Lord Diplock

Citations:

[1984] AC 156, 1983] 2 All ER 673, (1983) 77 Cr App R 176, [1983] 3 WLR 123

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Antoine HL 30-Mar-2000
The appellant sought to argue that despite having been found unfit to plead under the 1964 Act, it was still open to him to argue that the defence under section 2 of the 1957 Act applied, and that he was entitled to be plead diminished . .
Cited – O’Connor, Regina (On the Application of) v HM Coroner for District of Avon and Another Admn 7-May-2009
Two children died when their father jumped with them from a hotel balcony. The father had been acquitted in Crete of manslaughter after evidence of his psychiatric condition. The applicant now challenged the English coroner’s verdict of unlawful . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.182550

The defendant had been driving a motor-van when he was stopped by the police. In the back of the van there were found three pickaxe handles bound with adhesive tape. His defence was that he did not know that the implements were in the back of his van.
Held: The statutory words ‘has with him in any public place’ must mean ‘knowingly has with him in any public place’. Otherwise an innocent person could be liable if an article was put in his pocket without his knowledge. It is therefore extremely important in any case under this section for the judge to give a careful direction to the jury on the issue of possession. The first thing the jury have to be satisfied about, and it is always a question for the jury, is whether the accused person knowingly had with him the alleged offensive weapon.

Judges:

Salmon J, Parker LCJ

Citations:

[1961] 45 Cr App R 108

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 – 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 . .
Cited – Bayliss, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 6-Feb-2003
The defendant was arrested in Tescos. On being searched he was found to have a lock knife. He had placed it in his belt and forgotten about it. He appealed conviction saying it had not been shown that he knew he still had the knife.
Held: . .
Cited – Bayliss, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 6-Feb-2003
The defendant was arrested in Tescos. On being searched he was found to have a lock knife. He had placed it in his belt and forgotten about it. He appealed conviction saying it had not been shown that he knew he still had the knife.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.182747

Citations:

[1962] 46 Cr App R 227

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Perrin CACD 22-Mar-2002
The defendant had been convicted of publishing obscene articles for gain under the Act. He lived in London, and published a web site which was stored or hosted abroad, containing pornographic items. The investigating officer had called up the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.182252

For the purpose of section 170(2) of the 1979 Act a defendant must be judged on the facts as he believed them to be, such matter being an integral part of the inquiry as to whether he was knowingly concerned in a fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on importation. The principle that a man must be judged upon the facts as he believed them to be was an accepted principle of the criminal law when the state of a man’s mind and his knowledge are ingredients of the offence with which he is charged.

Judges:

Scarman L

Citations:

[1984] AC 539

Statutes:

Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 170(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Taaffe CACD 1983
The defendant appealed a conviction for having been knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cannabis resin. He said he had done so at the request of a someone but that he believed the substance to be . .
Approved – Regina v Hussain CACD 1969
The only mens rea necessary for proof of any offence of importing drugs was the knowledge that the goods were subject to a prohibition on importation. The accused must know ‘that what is on foot is the evasion of a prohibition against importation . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Forbes (Giles) HL 20-Jul-2001
The defendant had been convicted of evading a prohibition on importing articles of an obscene or indecent nature. He had been unaware of whether the articles were indecent images of children, or otherwise obscene images. Since the provisions which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.181228

The defendant had shot four people in two different locations. He suffered a number of conditions, including paranoid psychopathy, which raised the possibility of diminished responsibility, although the jury had rejected that defence. He now appealed complaining that the jury had not been allowed to consider his heavy intoxication as possibly establishing diminished responsibility.
Held: The appeal failed. The effect on the mind of voluntary intoxication could not give rise to diminished responsibility. Lord Widgery CJ said: ‘We recognise that cases may arise hereafter where the accused proves such a craving for drink or drugs as to produce in itself an abnormality of mind but that is not proved in this case. The appellant did not give evidence and we do not see how self-induced intoxication can of itself produce an abnormality of mind due to inherent causes.’

Judges:

Lord Widgery CJ

Citations:

[1975] 61 Cr App R 261

Statutes:

Homicide Act 1957 2

Cited by:

Applied – Dietschmann v Regina CACD 5-Oct-2001
The defendant was convicted of murder. He claimed diminished responsibility arising from a disorder, being either according to one psychiatrist, arising from alcohol dependence syndrome, or according to another, a depressed grief reaction. The . .
Approved – Regina v Gittens CACD 1984
Lord Lane set out the directions to be given to a jury on the defence of diminished responsibility: ‘Where a defendant suffers from an abnormality of mind arising from arrested or retarded development or inherent causes or induced by disease or . .
Cited – Dowds v Regina CACzD 22-Feb-2012
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder, saying that he should have been allowed to rely on a plea of diminished responsibility given the changes to section 2 of the 1957 Act introduced in 2009. He said that his alcoholism should . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180040

The court considered criminal liability under the joint enterprise rule where the principle took the action beyond what had been anticipated. Parker CJ said: ‘It seems to this court that to say that adventurers are guilty of manslaughter when one of them has departed completely from the concerted action of the common design and has suddenly formed an intent to kill and has used a weapon and acted in a way which no party to that common design could suspect is something which would revolt the conscience of people today.’

Judges:

Parker CJ

Citations:

[1966] 2 QB 110, [1966] CLY 2603

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Powell (Anthony) and Another; Regina v English HL 30-Oct-1997
When the court looked at the issue of foreseeability of murder in an allegation of joint enterprise, there was no requirement to show intent by the secondary party. The forseeability of the risk of the principal committing the offence from the point . .
Cited – Chan Wing-Siu v The Queen PC 21-Jun-1984
The appellant and co-accused were charged with murder. They said they had gone to meet the deceased to collect a debt, but had been attacked with a knife by the deceased. Two of the three had knives and knew of the other knife.
Held: All were . .
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 – Gnango, Regina v CACD 26-Jul-2010
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder. He had engaged in a street battle using guns. A bullet from an opponent killed an innocent passer by. The court was asked whether the principles of joint venture and transferred malice could . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.179870

The defendant gave three contradictory stories to explain a valuable painting found under his bed. He appealed his conviction, saying the judge should have given a Lucas direction to the effect that the fact that he had lied, did not mean inevitably that he was guilty. Many defendants to handling charges will give stories which will not be believed.
Held: A Lucas direction need not always been given, and it would be absurd to suggest one was always required in handling cases. It was necessary to avoid the ‘forbidden lines’ of reasoning, but that had been done in this case.

Judges:

Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Jackson and Mr Justice Owen

Citations:

Times 28-Mar-2002

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Lucas (Ruth) CACD 1981
People sometimes tell lies for reasons other than a belief that they are necessary to conceal guilt.
Four conditions were identified which must be satisfied before a defendant’s lie could be seen as supporting the prosecution case:-
(1) . .
Cited – Regina v Middleton CACD 12-Apr-2000
Where a defendant was shown to have lied in the course of proceedings it need not always be necessary to give a Lucas direction. In some circumstances the jury could properly be expected not to follow a prohibited line of reasoning without such a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.168066

The applicants each took part in an occupation of pods on the London Eye. They appealed convictions for threatening criminal damage, alleging the judge had misdirected the jury on the necessary ingredients of the offence.
Held: Section 2, as opposed to section 1, did not refer to recklessness, requiring under either sub-section, the threat that damage would be caused, but differing again according to the ownership of the property threatened. The sections required clear explanation for the jury, and that had not been given here, and the appeals were allowed.

Judges:

Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Aikens and Mr Justice Pitchford

Citations:

Times 28-Mar-2002

Statutes:

Criminal Damage Act 1971 2(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.168068

Detention time runs from time of actual seizure – strict compliance necessary.

Citations:

Times 24-Feb-1994

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.88217

Drug trafficking orders secured against equity in a matrimonial home are to be used with care.

Citations:

Ind Summary 13-Nov-1995

Statutes:

Drug Trafficking Act 1996

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.86769