Category: Crime

Sepil v Turkey: ECHR 12 Nov 2013

ECHR Article 6
Criminal proceedings
Article 6-1
Fair hearing
Equality of arms
Facts – The facts of the case were disputed between the parties. According to official records, in 2005 two undercover police officers contacted the applicant by telephone to buy heroin. After meeting at an agreed location, the officers purchased the heroin and arrested the applicant immediately afterwards. According to the applicant, he had not sold them the heroin, and the police officers had only found drugs after searching him. In 2006 the domestic court found the applicant guilty of drug-trafficking and sentenced him to six years and three months’ imprisonment. The Court of Cassation upheld that judgment.
Law – Article 6 – 1: The Court recalled that, while the use of undercover agents could be tolerated provided that it was subject to clear restrictions and safeguards, the public interest could not justify the use of evidence obtained as a result of police incitement, as it would expose the accused to the risk of being definitively deprived of a fair trial from the outset. In the applicant’s case, the police had not confined themselves to investigating criminal activity in an essentially passive manner but had exerted such an influence on the applicant as to incite the commission of an offence that he would have otherwise not committed. Therefore, the police activity amounted to incitement to commit crime. Moreover, the police had performed the operation leading to the applicant’s arrest of their own accord, and not on the basis of a decision of a judge or public prosecutor, contrary to the legal provision regulating the appointment of undercover agents, and without any judicial supervision. As for the criminal proceedings leading to the applicant’s conviction, the trial court had ignored the applicant’s repeated objections concerning the unlawfulness of the operation and the use of evidence obtained by police incitement. It had also failed to consider substantial evidence by refusing to examine records of the applicant’s telephone conversations prior to his arrest, even though this could have proved that the police had not in fact tried to buy heroin from him. Moreover, the trial court had not tried to establish the reasons for the police operation or to determine whether the police officers had acted in compliance with domestic law. Its failure to analyse the relevant factual and legal elements, which would have helped it to establish whether there was incitement, in particular having regard to the fact that the police intervention had not complied with domestic law, had thus deprived the applicant’s trial of the requisite fairness.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
Article 41: EUR 4,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage; claim in respect of pecuniary damage dismissed.
(See also Khudobin v. Russia, 59696/00, 26 October 2006, Information Note 90)

17711/07 – Chamber Judgment, [2013] ECHR 1115, 17711/07 – Legal Summary, [2013] ECHR 1288
Bailii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights

Human Rights, Crime, Police

Updated: 27 November 2021; Ref: scu.519058

Swinbourne, Regina v: CACD 10 Dec 2013

The appellant, accused of several rapes but found unfit to plead and made subject to a hospital order, appealed saing that his police interview had been wrongly admitted, and that the judge had failed to give a Lucas direction.

Fulford LJ, Cox J, Wait J
[2013] EWCA Crim 2329
Bailii
Sexual Offences Act 2003, Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 4(5), Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992
England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.518817

G and Another, Regina v: CACD 5 Dec 2013

The defendant had pled not guilty to a charge of entering into a facility which would facilitate money laundering. The court upheld that plea. The prosecutor now appealed.
Held: The appeal failed, although under section 328 it is not necessary for criminal property to exist at the moment when parties come to a prohibited arrangement, the arrangement must relate to property which is criminal property at the time when the arrangement begins to operate on it; and that on the facts of this case the property had not become criminal property at the time when the arrangement began to operate on it.
The prosecution submitted that the arrangement fell squarely within the ambit of section 328. The Court treated the case as indistinguishable from Geary and rejected the argument. Lloyd Jones LJ said: ‘Although the arrangement particularised in count two is limited to facilitation of the retention, use and control of criminal property, facilitation of the acquisition of the money via those accounts is, on the Crown’s factual case, an integral part of that arrangement. It seems to us that in these circumstances it is both artificial and illegitimate to seek to sever one element of an integral arrangement (facilitation of acquisition) in order to leave other elements (facilitation of retention, use and control) which, if considered in isolation to constitute the arrangement, would relate to criminal property. Moreover, the position cannot be improved by artificially limiting the particulars of offence alleged in count two to certain elements of the wider arrangement which the Crown maintains was in fact entered into.’

Lloyd-Jones LJ, Irwin, Green JJ
[2013] EWCA Crim 2237
Bailii
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 328(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Geary, Regina v CACD 30-Jul-2010
The defendant agreed to help a friend named Harrington to hide some money for a period. Under the arrangement Harrington transferred around andpound;123,000 into the defendant’s bank account. The defendant used some of it to make some purchases for . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – GH, Regina v SC 22-Apr-2015
Appeal against conviction for entering into an arrangement for the retention of criminal funds. The defendant said that at the time of the arrangement there were not yet any criminal funds in existence. A had set up websites intending to con . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.518813

Gulati and Others v MGN Ltd: ChD 6 Nov 2013

The claimants alleged that the defendant newspaper group had directly or through agents hacked their mobile phones. They suggested that articles published by the defendants could only have come from such activities. The defendants now sought summary judgment striking out two claims, and striking out elements of all four claims.
Held: The applications failed.

Mann J
[2013] EWHC 3392 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – Gulati and Others v MGN Limited ChD 21-May-2015
The claimants each claimed that their mobile phones had been hacked by or on behalf of the defendant newspaper group. The claims had now in substance been admitted, and the court set out to assess the damages (and aggravated damages) to be paid.
Media, Crime, Litigation Practice, Torts – Other

Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.517767

Croke, Regina (on The Application of) v Leeds Crown Court: Admn 3 Oct 2013

Mr Croke renewed his application for permission to challenge the decision of the Crown Court to refuse to state a case following the dismissal by the court of his appeal against conviction by the Magistrates of two offences of assault by beating, battery, contrary to section 39 of the 1988 Act of two security guards who were escorting him off the Great George Street premises of Leeds City Council, he having been previously barred by the council from the premises, or at least, on his understanding, from part of the premises.

Supperstone J
[2013] EWHC 3305 (Admin)
Bailii
Criminal Justice Act 1988 39

Crime

Updated: 23 November 2021; Ref: scu.517339

Regina (Smeaton) v Secretary of State for Health and Others: Admn 18 Apr 2002

The claimant challenged the Order as regards the prescription of the morning-after pill, asserting that the pill would cause miscarriages, and that therefore the use would be an offence under the 1861 Act.
Held: ‘SPUC’s case is that any interference with a fertilised egg, if it leads to the loss of the egg, involves the procuring of a ‘miscarriage’ within the meaning of the 1861 Act, even – and this is the important point – if the interference takes place before the egg has implanted in the wall of the womb.’ ‘The Court of King’s Bench, or its modern incarnation the Administrative Court, is no longer custos morum of the people. ‘ The 1861 Act was an ‘always speaking’ Act, and was to be interpreted according to our understanding now, not as in 1861. Also the word ‘miscarriage’ is an ordinary word and is not to be given a technical meaning. On current understanding, pregnancy began once the blastocyst had implanted in the endometrium. The morning after pill operated before that time, and was not an abortifacient. The Regulations were not unlawful. ‘There would in my judgment be something very seriously wrong, indeed grievously wrong with our system – by which I mean not just our legal system but the entire system by which our polity is governed – if a judge in 2002 were to be compelled by a statute 141 years old to hold that what . . . millions, of ordinary honest, decent, law abiding citizens have been doing day in day out for so many years is and always has been criminal. I am glad to be spared so unattractive a duty. ‘

Mr Justice Munby
Times 02-May-2002, Gazette 30-May-2002, [2002] EWHC 610 (Admin), [2002] EWHC 886 (Admin), (2002) 2 FLR 146
Bailii, Bailii
Offences against the Person Act 1861 58 59, Prescription Only Medicines (Human Use) Amendment (No 3) Order 2000 (SI 2000 No 3231), Abortion Act 1967, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 2(3) 27
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom v Department of Health and Social Security HL 2-Jan-1981
The court was asked whether nurses could properly involve themselves in a pregnancy termination procedure not known when the Act was passed, and in particular, whether a pregnancy was ‘terminated by a medical practitioner’, when it was carried out . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Edison Telephone Company of London 1880
The 1869 Act gave the Postmaster-General a monopoly of transmitting telegrams. Telegrams were defined as messages transmitted by telegraph. A telegraph was defined to include ‘any apparatus for transmitting messages or other communications by means . .
Cited – Chard v Chard (otherwise Northcott), Haye, Winstanley, Lord and Norris FD 1956
If a person has not been heard of for seven years by those who would be likely to hear from them then, if proper inquiries have been made and there is no evidence to the contrary, the person is presumed to be dead. However, the mere fact of a seven . .
Cited – Duport Steels Ltd v Sirs HL 3-Jan-1980
Judiciary must Interpret, not Remedy the Law
The House emphasised the need for courts to be even handed in interpreting statutes dealing with industrial relations. Where the words of the statute are plain and unambiguous, the Court ought to give effect to that plain meaning.
Lord Diplock . .
Cited – Sulaiman v Juffali FD 9-Nov-2001
A talaq pronounced in England as between parties who were Saudi nationals was not to be recognised in English law as a valid extra judicial overseas divorce, even though it otherwise complied with Sharia law. Section 44(1)(a) provides that no . .
Cited – Harris v Harris; Harris v Attorney General FD 21-May-2001
The applicant had been committed for ten months for contempt, being in breach of family court injunctions. He applied to be released after two months on the basis that the unserved balance of the sentence be suspended. The court held that it had the . .
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 . .
Cited – In re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation) HL 4-May-1989
Where a patient lacks capacity, there is the power to provide him with whatever treatment or care is necessary in his own best interests. Medical treatment can be undertaken in an emergency even if, through a lack of capacity, no consent had been . .
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland HL 4-Feb-1993
Procedures on Withdrawal of Life Support Treatment
The patient had been severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster, and had come to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought permission to withdraw medical treatment. The Official Solicitor appealed against an order of the Court . .
Cited – Re A FD 1992
The law treats death as meaning brain stem death.
The Court made a declaration that a 19 month old child was ‘dead for all legal, as well as medical, purposes.’ In doing so, Johnson J held that, in consequence of the conclusion as to the . .
Cited – Paton v United Kingdom ECHR 1980
An abortion conducted in the tenth week of pregnancy was not condemned. The Commission construed Article 2 to be subject to an implied limitation to allow a balancing act between the interests of mother and unborn child. . .
Mentioned – Regina v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ex parte World Development Movement Ltd QBD 1995
A British consortium looked for assistance in providing a hydro-electric project on the Pergau river. One interested government department advised that it was not economical and an abuse of the overseas aid programme, but the respondent decided to . .
Mentioned – H v Norway ECHR 1992
Whether fertilised ovum has a right to life under Article 2. . .
Mentioned – Open Door and Dublin Well Woman v Ireland ECHR 29-Oct-1992
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Lack of jurisdiction (Art. 8); Preliminary objection rejected (victim); Preliminary objection rejected (six month period); Preliminary objection rejected . .
Mentioned – Regina v Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte Croydon London Borough Council QBD 1989
Delay in application.
Held: The commissioner’s powers cannot depend upon whether the complaint is well founded. He could only act where a complainant did not otherwise have an action at law for a remedy.
As long as no prejudice is . .
Cited – Regina v Her Majesty’s Treasury, Ex parte Smedley CA 19-Dec-1984
The applicant sought, as a taxpayer, to object to the proposed payment of andpound;121m to the European Community without an Appropriation Act, but under an Order in Council. The claim was that a draft Order in Council laid by the Treasury before . .
Cited – Regina v Criminal Injuries Compensation Board Ex Parte A HL 11-Mar-1999
A police doctor’s statement in a contemporary medical report that her findings were consistent with the claimant’s allegation had not been included in the evidence before the CICB when it rejected her claim for compensation.
Held: The decision . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ex parte Rees-Mogg Admn 30-Jul-1993
The applicant, a former editor of the Times, sought judicial review of the decision by the respondent to ratify the EU Treaty (Maastricht), saying that it would increase the powers of the European Parliament without it having been approved by . .
Cited – Rex v Phillips 1811
That a woman had not conceived could not afford a defence to the offence under section II. . .
Cited – Regina v Dhingra CC 1991
(Crown Court at Birmingham) A doctor who had fitted a patient, with an IUD was charged with an offence under section 58 of the 1861 Act. Having heard medical evidence from two consultant gynaecologists and legal argument the judge withdrew the case . .
Cited – Rex v Bourne 1939
An eminent surgeon openly in a public hospital operated to terminate the pregnancy of a 14 year old girl who had become pregnant in consequence of a violent rape.
Held: The court suggested when summing up that there might be a duty in certain . .
Cited – Sutherland v Stopes HL 1925
Dr Marie Stopes failed in her attempt to reverse the verdict against her in libel proceedings she had brought in relation to a book which criticised what it called her ‘monstrous campaign of birth control’ and opined, looking back to the events of . .
Cited – Rex v Scudder 1828
. .
Cited – Rex v Goodhall 1846
Proof of pregnancy was unnecessary to establish an offence under the Act of procuring a miscarriage. . .
Cited – Bradlaugh v The Queen 1877
Charles Bradlaugh and Mrs Annie Besant were prosecuted for publishing a treatise on contraceptive methods entitled the Fruits of Philosophy which had originally been published in the United States of America in 1832. They were prosecuted for . .
Cited – Bradlaugh v The Queen CA 1878
Conviction for publishing an obscene libel (abortion manual) overturned. . .
Cited – In Re Besant ChD 18-May-1878
Mrs Besant had been prosecuted for publishing an obscene libel in the form of a book on abortion.
Held: The publication of the book was in itself sufficient grounds for removing Mrs Besant’s seven year old daughter from her mother’s custody. . .
Cited – In Re Besant CA 9-Apr-1879
The appellant challenged an order removing her children after she had been prosecuted for publishing an obscene libel, in the form of a book on abortion.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The court removed the daughter of Annie Besant and the . .
Cited – Regina v Dhingra CC 1991
(Crown Court at Birmingham) A doctor who had fitted a patient, with an IUD was charged with an offence under section 58 of the 1861 Act. Having heard medical evidence from two consultant gynaecologists and legal argument the judge withdrew the case . .
Cited – Regina v Dhingra CC 1991
(Crown Court at Birmingham) A doctor who had fitted a patient, with an IUD was charged with an offence under section 58 of the 1861 Act. Having heard medical evidence from two consultant gynaecologists and legal argument the judge withdrew the case . .
Cited – Firth v Firth 25-Jun-1941
Langton J said: ‘[Counsel] said that it was a matter of common knowledge that young people, for a period, at any rate, after their marriage had intercourse only with the intervention of contraceptives. On this part of his common knowledge I can only . .
Cited – Baxter v Baxter PC 1947
The House considered whether a wife who insisted that her husband always used a condom was thereby guilty of a wilful refusal to consummate the marriage within the meaning of section 7(1)(a).
Held: She was not, for a marriage may be . .
Cited – Queen-Empress v Ademma 1886
(Appellate Criminal Court of Madras) A prosecution had been brought under section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, it being an offence ‘voluntarily [to] cause a woman with child to miscarry’. The trial judge had held that the defendant, who had only . .
Cited – The Attorney General (ex rel The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children Ireland Ltd) v Open Door Counselling Ltd and Dublin Wellwoman Centre Ltd 1988
(High Court in Ireland) Hamilton P said: ‘Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 protected and protect the foetus in the womb and having regard to the omission of the words ‘Quick with child’ which were contained in the . .
Cited – Open Door and Dublin Well Woman v Ireland ECHR 29-Oct-1992
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Lack of jurisdiction (Art. 8); Preliminary objection rejected (victim); Preliminary objection rejected (six month period); Preliminary objection rejected . .
Cited – Regina v Price (Herbert) CACD 1989
A woman went to consult the defendant, a doctor, as she thought she was pregnant and did not wish to have the child. It was common ground that she told the defendant she thought she was some three months pregnant, that she desired not to have the . .
Cited – Regina v Trim 1943
(Supreme Court of Victoria) Section 62 of the Crimes Act 1928 made it an offence to do certain acts ‘with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman’, specifically in the context of an argument (rejected by the court) that it was a defence if . .
Cited – Munah Binti Ali v Public Prosecutor 1958
(Court of Appeal of Malaya) Thomson CJ: ‘it is quite clear that the expression ’causes a woman with child to miscarry’ means to cause her to lose from the womb prematurely the products of conception and . . therefore there can be no offence under . .
Cited – Thompson v Nixon QBD 1966
The court felt bound to follow the interpretation of the meaning of bailee in the 1916 Act from Matthews, even if, given the freedom to do so it would have interpreted it differently: ‘the present case falls four square within the decision in Reg v . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd HL 28-Oct-1999
Same Sex Paartner to Inherit as Family Member
The claimant had lived with the original tenant in a stable and long standing homosexual relationship at the deceased’s flat. After the tenant’s death he sought a statutory tenancy as a spouse of the deceased. The Act had been extended to include as . .
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 . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Edison Telephone Company of London 1880
The 1869 Act gave the Postmaster-General a monopoly of transmitting telegrams. Telegrams were defined as messages transmitted by telegraph. A telegraph was defined to include ‘any apparatus for transmitting messages or other communications by means . .
Cited – King v Bristow Helicopters Ltd; Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines HL 28-Feb-2002
Psychiatric Injury under Warsaw Convention
The applicants were passengers who claimed damages for psychiatric injury, after accidents in aircraft.
Held: The Convention created strict liability on air carriers, but explicitly restricted damages to be payable for ‘bodily injury’. That . .
Cited – Regina (Quintavalle) v Secretary of State for Health CA 18-Jan-2002
A cloned cell, a cell produced by cell nuclear replacement came within the definition of embryo under the Act. The Act required that fertilisation was complete.
Held: The act could be applied in a purposive way. The legislative policy was that . .
Cited – King v Bristow Helicopters Ltd; Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines HL 28-Feb-2002
Psychiatric Injury under Warsaw Convention
The applicants were passengers who claimed damages for psychiatric injury, after accidents in aircraft.
Held: The Convention created strict liability on air carriers, but explicitly restricted damages to be payable for ‘bodily injury’. That . .
Cited – Preston-Jones v Preston-Jones HL 1951
There are some medical matters of which the court has judicial knowledge, such as the normal period of human gestation. At common law the presumption of legitimacy could only be rebutted by proof beyond reasonable doubt. Proof of adultery in . .
Cited – Birmingham City Council v Oakley HL 29-Nov-2000
When considering if premises fell within the section, and were ‘in such a state as to be prejudicial to health’, the court must consider some feature of the premises which was in itself prejudicial. An arrangement of rooms which was unsatisfactory . .
Cited – Regina v Burstow, Regina v Ireland HL 24-Jul-1997
The defendant was accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he had made silent phone calls which were taken as threatening.
Held: An assault might consist of the making of a silent telephone call in circumstances where it causes . .

Cited by:
Cited – Hurst, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v London Northern District Coroner HL 28-Mar-2007
The claimant’s son had been stabbed to death. She challenged the refusal of the coroner to continue with the inquest with a view to examining the responsibility of any of the police in having failed to protect him.
Held: The question amounted . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Health

Updated: 23 November 2021; Ref: scu.170211

Shirley, Regina v: CACD 8 Nov 2013

The defendant had been convicted of several very serious sexual and physical assaults and rapes. He appealed against his conviction, saying that the judge had not fairly represented his defence to the jury. He said that the complainant had been raped, before and had suffered mental health issues, and that her evidence was inconsistent.

[2013] EWCA Crim 1990
Bailii
Offences against the Person Act 1861 20
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Duncan CACD 1981
Where a defendant has not given evidence the whole of a ‘mixed’ statement, one which includes matter which is incriminating and also matter which is exculpatory, should be admitted in evidence, if it is to be admitted at all. Nevertheless, the court . .
Cited – Regina v Garrod CACD 18-Oct-1986
The fact on its own that a statement contained matters that might amount to an admission, that did not make the statement a mixed statement . .
Cited – Regina v Sharp (Colin) HL 1988
The defendant had been seen fleeing the area of a crime. Some days later he volunteered a statement admitting his presence in the area, but providing an innocent explanation. He did not give evidence at trial. His statement was put in by the . .
Cited – Regina v Aziz; Regina v Tosun; Regina v Yorganci HL 16-Jun-1995
The defendant (one of three) relied upon his part exculpatory statement made in interview and did not give evidence. The judge said that his good character was relevant as to his own propensity, and the character of the others was relevant to their . .
Cited – Papworth and Another v Regina CACD 12-Dec-2007
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 25 November 2021; Ref: scu.517492

Coats, Regina v: CACD 24 Jul 2013

The defendant had been convicted of importing drugs. She denied knowledge of the offence and denied any coercion. Another person awaiting her at the airport was later convicted of an unassociated murder. She now appealed sayng that she had been coerced. The court was now asked whether he appellant may have been suffering from Battered Woman’s Syndrome at the time of the offence; and (ii) If so, was it a severity and degree that it might have afforded her the defence of duress?
Held: The appeal failed: ‘We make every allowance for the fact that a battered woman may not report their abuser, may not reveal the true extent of their abuse and may withdraw complaints. However, the contemporaneous records of this woman, of her complaints of her dealings with the police and social workers simply do not paint a picture of an abused woman who is passive and suppressing her suffering and her fears. They reveal a woman with her own anger management problems, a woman prepared to stand up for herself with Walters and the authorities and who far from being isolated was in regular contact with friends and relations.’

Hallett DBE LJ, Openshaw, Leggatt JJ
[2013] EWCA Crim 1472
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Hasan, Regina v HL 17-Mar-2005
The House was asked two questions: the meaning of ‘confession’ for the purposes of section 76(1) of the 1984 Act, and as to the defence of duress. The defendant had been involved in burglary, being told his family would be harmed if he refused. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 25 November 2021; Ref: scu.517484

SO v The Crown: CACD 11 Oct 2013

The defendant suffered from a psychiatric condition that caused him to believe in a state of affairs which did not exist.
Held: ‘an insane person cannot set the standards of reasonableness as to the degree of force used by reference to his own insanity’

Davis LJ, Keith, Lewis JJ
[2013] EWCA Crim 1725, [2014] 1 WLR 3354, [2014] Crim LR 544, [2014] 1 All ER 902, [2014] 1 Cr App R 11
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Martin v Regina CACD 30-Oct-2001
It would not be appropriate except in exceptional circumstances ‘which would make the evidence especially probative’ to take into account, when deciding whether excessive force was used in self-defence, that the defendant was suffering from a . .

Cited by:
Cited – Press and Another v Regina CACD 24-Oct-2013
Three defendants appealed against their convictions of assault. One defendant argued that the court did not direct the jury as to the effect of intoxication and/or post-traumatic stress disorder upon the issue of intent, and as to whether and to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 25 November 2021; Ref: scu.517490

Attorney-General v Whelan: 20 Dec 1933

(Court of Criminal Appeal – Ireland) The appellant had been tried as part of a conspiracy to steal and to receive stolen good. He was acquitted of the conspiracy, but now appealed against his conviction for theft despite his assertion that he acted only under coercion.
Held: He was acquitted: ‘ It seems to us that threats of immediate death or serious personal violence so great as to overbear the ordinary power of human resistance should be accepted as a justification for acts which would otherwise be criminal. The application of this general rule must however be subject to certain limitations. The commission of murder is a crime so heinous that murder should not be committed even for the price of life and in such a case the strongest duress would not be any justification. We have not to determine what class of crime other than murder should be placed in the same category. We are, however, satisfied that any such consideration does not apply in the case of receiving. Where the excuse of duress is applicable it must further be clearly shown that the overpowering of the will was operative at time the crime was actually committed, and, if there were reasonable opportunity for the will to reassert itself, no justification can be found in antecedent threats. ‘

Murnaghan J
[1934] IR 518, [1933] IEHC 1
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Oldcastle’s Case 1419
In a case of treason immediate fear of death can be a justification. . .
Cited – Alexander MacGrowther’s Case 1746
In the rule that necessity might be a defence to a criminal charge, the distinction was drawn between threats directed against the person and threats upon property. ‘The only force that doth excuse is a force upon the person, and present fear of . .
Cited – Rex v Stratton 1779
It was just possible to imagine cases in which the expediency of breaking the law was so overwhelming that people might be justified in breaking it. The rule could be extended to cases of treason upon a general principle that it could to be extended . .

Cited by:
Cited – Hasan, Regina v HL 17-Mar-2005
The House was asked two questions: the meaning of ‘confession’ for the purposes of section 76(1) of the 1984 Act, and as to the defence of duress. The defendant had been involved in burglary, being told his family would be harmed if he refused. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 25 November 2021; Ref: scu.223665

Laws-Chapman v Regina: CACD 25 Oct 2013

The Court was asked whether, in the context of two historic sexual offences dating back to 1978 which involved an allegation of violent, paedophile behaviour against the will of the victim (who was 12 or 13 years of age at the time) the judge was right to admit in evidence a single conviction for buggery in 1985, involving a 17 year old, which may well have been consensual and when the court had no details relating to the latter offending, save as regards the identity of the victim and the location of the offence.

[2013] EWCA Crim 1851
Bailii
England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 22 November 2021; Ref: scu.516999

Press and Another v Regina: CACD 24 Oct 2013

Three defendants appealed against their convictions of assault. One defendant argued that the court did not direct the jury as to the effect of intoxication and/or post-traumatic stress disorder upon the issue of intent, and as to whether and to what extent expert evidence of the Thompson’s post-traumatic stress disorder was relevant to their consideration of the defence of self-defence, and whether the jury was provided with appropriate directions.
Held: In the assessment of reasonableness of force used in self defence, an honest and instinctive belief in the necessity for the force used, formed because the defendant was acting under an insane delusion as to the nature of the threat, was to be left out of account. To hold otherwise would be to ignore the explicit terms of section 76(9) that section 76 was a clarification of existing law and not a change in it.

Pitchford LJ, Keith, Lewis JJ
[2013] EWCA Crim 1849
Bailii
Offences Against the Person Act 1861 18
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Grundy CACD 1989
A policeman was attacked on the staircase of someone’s home. Grundy arrived within a few seconds and joined in the attack including headbutting the police officer. The assault continued when the police officer was knocked to the ground. It could not . .
Cited – Martin v Regina CACD 30-Oct-2001
It would not be appropriate except in exceptional circumstances ‘which would make the evidence especially probative’ to take into account, when deciding whether excessive force was used in self-defence, that the defendant was suffering from a . .
Cited – Keane and Another, Regina v CACD 19-Oct-2010
The court considered the effect upon the common law concept of self-defence of the statutory intervention made by section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
Held: It was not the purpose of the section to change the common law . .
Cited – B v Regina CACD 31-Jan-2013
The Court was asked whether it was open to a defendant charged with rape contrary to section 1 of the 2003 Act to rely upon a ‘deluded’ belief in the consent of the complainant.
Held: Hughes LJ said: ‘Both the common law and statute law are . .
Cited – SO v The Crown CACD 11-Oct-2013
The defendant suffered from a psychiatric condition that caused him to believe in a state of affairs which did not exist.
Held: ‘an insane person cannot set the standards of reasonableness as to the degree of force used by reference to his own . .
Cited – Press and Another v Regina CACD 24-Oct-2013
Three defendants appealed against their convictions of assault. One defendant argued that the court did not direct the jury as to the effect of intoxication and/or post-traumatic stress disorder upon the issue of intent, and as to whether and to . .

Cited by:
Cited – Press and Another v Regina CACD 24-Oct-2013
Three defendants appealed against their convictions of assault. One defendant argued that the court did not direct the jury as to the effect of intoxication and/or post-traumatic stress disorder upon the issue of intent, and as to whether and to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 22 November 2021; Ref: scu.516962

Regina v St Regis Paper Company Ltd: CACD 4 Nov 2011

The court was asked as to the extent which the appellant, St. Regis Paper Company Limited, could be held criminally liable for intentionally making a false entry in a record required for environmental pollution control in its application to offences requiring proof of mens rea.

Moses LJ, Nicola Davies, Gilbert QC JJ
[2011] EWCA Crim 2527, [2012] PTSR 871, [2012] 1 Cr App R 14, [2012] Lloyd’s Rep FC 221, [2012] Env LR 16
Bailii
Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Seabord Offshore Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport (The Safe Carrier) HL 25-Mar-1994
The House was asked whether a ship manager was legally responsible for the acts of the ship’s chief engineer under s31(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988, which imposed a duty on the manager to take all reasonable steps to secure that the ship was . .

Cited by:
Cited – A Ltd and Othersi, Regina v CACD 28-Jul-2016
The Serious Fraud Office appealed against rulings on the admission of evidence after its exclusion under section 78.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The appeal had been brought within time and could proceed. Police and Criminal Evidence Act . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 22 November 2021; Ref: scu.448148

Regina v Jones (Margaret), Regina v Milling and others: HL 29 Mar 2006

Domestic Offence requires Domestic Defence

Each defendant sought to raise by way of defence of their otherwise criminal actions, the fact that they were attempting to prevent the commission by the government of the crime of waging an aggressive war in Iraq, and that their acts were accordingly justified in law.
Held: The law on aggression was not part of domestic law, and the defence available to the defendants required them to be seeking to prevent a crime under domestic law. The legality of the war in Iraq did not come into the issue: ‘Necessity is potentially a domestic defence to a domestic offence. We have already held that no domestic crime is engaged. The executive’s action in declaring and waging war is, in itself, a lawful exercise of its powers under the prerogative. The court will accordingly have to consider the extent to which necessity might afford a defence to the defendants in the light of their beliefs on that basis. The extent to which their beliefs as to the facts will enable the defendants to establish any of the elements of the defence, in particular the requirement that they should be so acting in relation to people for whom they could reasonably regard themselves as being responsible is not a question we are called upon to answer.’
Lord Bingham pointed to: ‘what has become an important democratic principle in this country: that it is for those representing the people of the country in Parliament, not the executive and not the judges, to decide what conduct should be treated as lying so far outside the bounds of what is acceptable in our society as to attract criminal penalties. One would need very compelling reasons for departing from that principle.’
Lord Hoffmann suggested that defence of justification required that the acts of the defendant: ‘must be considered in the context of a functioning state in which legal disputes can be peacefully submitted to the courts and dispute over what should be law or government policy can be submitted to the arbitrament of the democratic process. In such circumstances, the apprehension, however honest or reasonable, of acts which are thought to be unlawful or contrary to the public interest, cannot justify the commission of criminal acts and the issue of justification should be withdrawn from the jury.’

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Mance
[2006] 2 CAR 9, [2002] 2 CAR 128, [2006] UKHL 16, Times 30-Mar-2006, [2006] 2 WLR 772, [2007] 1 AC 136, [2006] 2 Cr App Rep 9, [2006] 2 All ER 741, [2007] Crim LR 66
Bailii
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 68(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Triquet v Bath 1764
An English secretary to a foreign minister is privileged from arrests, though formerly a trader, and now under very suspicious circumstances. For a servant of a minister of a foreign country to claim protection against prosecution, it is not . .
Appeal from – Ayliffe and others v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 21-Apr-2005
The case concerned actions taken at military bases by way of protest against the Iraq war. Each raised questions arising from the prosecution of the appellants for offences of aggravated trespass. The defendants asserted, among other things, that . .
Appeal from – 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 . .
Cited – Viveash v Becker 1814
A merchant who was resident in London took on additional duties as consul for a foreign government.
Held: the appointment was not sufficient to protect him from an action upon a mesne process. . .
Cited – Novello v Toogood 29-Apr-1823
The defendant a British born subject was a music master and teacher of Italian, but was also employed in part as a chorister in the chapel of a foreign ambassador. He rented a large house, subletting parts. He resisted distraint on the premises for . .
Cited – Regina v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis, ex parte Rottman HL 16-May-2002
The defendant had been arrested under an extradition warrant issued under the Act. The police had searched his premises, and found further evidence which was used to support the application for extradition. He challenged the collection and admission . .
Cited – Hutchinson v Newbury Magistrates Court QBD 9-Oct-2000
The appellant’s conviction for criminal damage to a fence at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston was upheld by the Crown Court; and she appealed by way of case stated to the Divisional Court, maintaining that she had acted in order to . .
Cited – Duke of Brunswick v The King of Hanover HL 31-Jul-1948
The Duke claimed that the King of Hanover had been involved in the removal of the Duke from his position as reigning Duke and in the maladministration of his estates.
Held: ‘A foreign Sovereign, coming into this country cannot be made . .
Cited – Regina v Bartle and Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Others, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte; Regina v Evans and Similar (No 3) HL 24-Mar-1999
An application to extradite a former head of state for an offence which was not at the time an offence under English law would fail, but could proceed in respect of allegations of acts after that time. No immunity was intended for heads of state. . .
Cited – Taylor v Best 1854
The defendant was a counsellor of a foreign legation, and was subject to the directions of the minister plenipotentiary. In the absence of the minister, he acted up as charge d’affaires. He sought the protection of the 1708 Act.
Held: A person . .
Cited – Nulyarimma v Thompson 1-Sep-1999
(Federal Court of Australia) The court rejected the automatic assimiliation of the international crime of genocide into national law.
Austlii CRIMINAL LAW – International crime of genocide – Meaning of . .
Cited – JH Rayner (Mincing Lane) Ltd v Department of Trade and Industry HL 1989
An undisclosed principal will not be permitted to claim to be party to a contract if this is contrary to the terms of the contract itself. Thus the provision in the standard form B contract of the London Metal Exchange ‘this contract is made between . .
Cited – Magdalena Steam Navigation Company v Martin 1859
The defendant asserted that he was entitled to diplomatic privilege to protect him from an action here. He was public minister of a foreign state. He had been received by the Court and given formal accreditation. He had no real property in Britain. . .
Cited – Emperor of Austria v Day and Kossuth 1861
The defendants had printed banknotes in London. Kossuth intended to use the notes in Hungary after overthrowing the Emperor of Austria by revolution. The Emperor obtained an injunction restraining the defendants from continuing to manufacture them. . .
Cited – Regina v Keyn 13-Nov-1876
The court considered the significance of the existence of an academic consensus as to the meaning of an international convention. Cockburn CJ said: ‘even if entire unanimity had existed in respect of the important particulars to which I have . .
Cited – In re Piracy jure gentium PC 1934
Charges of piracy were brought against Chinese Nationals who had pursued and attacked a cargo junk. They were indicted in Hong Kong for the crime of piracy and found guilty subject to a question of law: ‘Whether an accused person may be convicted of . .
Cited – Chung Chi Cheung v The King PC 2-Dec-1938
Hong Kong.
Held: The applicant could not invoke any right under the rule of international law which placed upon a state a duty to receive its own national, because that rule was inconsistent with the domestic law. In modern times the idea of . .
Cited – Formica Ltd v Export Credits Guarantee Department ComC 19-Oct-1994
A guarantor was entitled to see documents created by the company in chasing a debt. Procedure – specific discovery – common interest relied upon by applicant for discovery – insurance – documents brought into existence in furtherance of a common . .
Cited – Re Sandrock and Others 1945
(British Military Court in Holland ) It was submitted that this military court was a court constituted under an Order in Council and was accordingly a domestic court applying English Law. . .
Cited – Regina v Knuller (Publishing, Printing and Promotions) Ltd; Knuller etc v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1972
The defendants were charged after pasting up in telephone booths advertisements for homosexual services. They published a magazine with similar advertisements. The House was asked to confirm the existence of an offence of outraging public decency. . .
Cited – Trendtex Trading Corporation v Central Bank of Nigeria CA 1977
The court considered the developing international jurisdiction over commercial activities of state bodies which might enjoy state immunity, and sought to ascertain whether or not the Central Bank of Nigeria was entitled to immunity from suit.
Cited – JH Rayner (Mincing Lane) Ltd v Department of Trade and Industry 1989
. .
Cited – Regina v Renouf CACD 1986
The defendant had used his car to chase some people who had assaulted him and had so manoeuvred his car as to prevent their escape. The statutory defence in the 1967 Act (‘a person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances . . in . .
Cited – Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States) ICJ 1986
The prohibition on the use of force in article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter was accepted as jus cogens, a universally recognised principle of international law. . .
Cited – Swales v Cox CA 1981
Police officers had entered a house in pursuit of a suspected burglar.
Held: It is a condition of any lawful breaking of premises that the person seeking entry has demanded and been refused entry by the occupier.
Donaldson LJ said: ‘it . .
Cited – Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (Request for Advice and Opinion by Un) ICJ 18-Jul-1996
The threat or actual use of nuclear weapons must only be in accordance with treaties, but if so was not unlawful. . .
Cited – Regina v Hill and Hall CACD 1989
The defendants were separately tried for possession of an article with intent to damage property contrary to section 3. In each case the article in question was a hacksaw blade and it was the prosecution case that each of the applicants intended to . .
Cited – Regina v Shayler CACD 28-Sep-2001
Duress as Defence not closely Defined
The defendant had been a member of MI5. He had signed the Official Secrets Act, but then disclosed various matters, including material obtained by interceptions under the Interception of Communications Act. He claimed that his disclosures were made . .
Cited – Regina v Abdul-Hussain; Regina v Aboud; Regina v Hasan CACD 17-Dec-1998
The law of the defence of duress arising out of threat or circumstances is in need of urgent parliamentary clarification. Appeals were allowed where the defendants hijacked an airplane in order to escape deportation to a hostile country. ‘The . .
Cited – Regina v Martin (Colin) CACD 29-Nov-1988
Defence of Necessity has a Place in Criminal Law
The defendant appealed against his conviction for driving whilst disqualified. He said he had felt obliged to drive his stepson to work because his stepson had overslept. His wife (who had suicidal tendencies) had been threatening suicide unless he . .

Cited by:
Cited – Gentle and Clarke, Regina (on the Application Of) v Prime Minister and others CA 12-Dec-2006
The claimants appealed refusal of a judicial review of the defendant’s decision to enter into the war in Iraq. The claimants were parents of troops who had died in the war. They said that the legal advice given to the government was incorrect.
Cited – Regina v F CACD 16-Feb-2007
The defendant was charged with offences for having been in possession of a document or record containing information of a kind ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’. It was thought he was associated with a . .
Cited – Regina v Ulcay CACD 19-Oct-2007
The defendant appealed against his conviction, saying that his counsel and solicitors had withdrawn at the last moment on the grounds of professional embarrassment, the defendant having altered his instructions. New lawyers were unwilling to assist . .
Cited – Gentle, Regina (on the Application of) and Another v The Prime Minister and Another HL 9-Apr-2008
The appellants were mothers of two servicemen who had died whilst on active service in Iraq. They appealed refusal to grant a public inquiry. There had already been coroners inquests. They said that Article 2 had been infringed.
Held: The . .
Cited – A, K, M, Q and G v HM Treasury Admn 24-Apr-2008
The applicants were suspected of terrorist associations. Their bank accounts and similar had been frozen. They challenged the Order in Council under which the orders had been made without an opportunity for parliamentary challenge or approval.
Cited – Norris v United States of America and others HL 12-Mar-2008
The detainee appealed an order for extradition to the USA, saying that the offence (price-fixing) was not one known to English common law. The USA sought his extradition under the provisions of the Sherman Act.
Held: It was not, and it would . .
Cited – Bancoult, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) HL 22-Oct-2008
The claimants challenged the 2004 Order which prevented their return to their homes on the Chagos Islands. The islanders had been taken off the island to leave it for use as a US airbase. In 2004, the island was no longer needed, and payment had . .
Cited – Regina v Barkshire and Others CACD 20-Jul-2011
Undervover police were agents provocateur
The defendants appealed against their convictions for aggravated trespass, saying that the police had infiltrated their environmental protest group, and that the undercover officer had acted as agent provocateur to entrap them into the offences. . .
Cited – Bauer and Others v The Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 22-Mar-2013
The appellants had entered Fortnum and Masons to demonstrate against tax avoidance. They appealed against convitions for aggravated trespass.
Held: The statutory question posed by s.68 is whether the prosecution can prove that the trespasser . .
Cited – Coll v Floreat Merchant Banking Ltd and Others QBD 3-Jun-2014
The court was asked whether it was possible to bring contempt proceedings against a solicitor for the breach of an undertaking other than one given to the court. The parties had been employee and employer. On the breakdown of that relationship, the . .
Cited – Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 12-Nov-2014
The claimant had supported the grant of a visa to a woman in order to speak to members of Parliament who was de facto leader of an Iranian organsation which had in the past supported terrorism and had been proscribed in the UK, but that proscription . .
Cited – Richardson and Another v Director of Public Prosecutions SC 5-Feb-2014
The defendants had protested against the activities of a shop, by trespassing. They were said to have committed the offence of aggravated trespass under section 68 of the 1994 Act. They objected in part that this infringed their article 10 right of . .
Established – Al Rabbat v Westminster Magistrates’ Court Admn 31-Jul-2017
The claimant appealed against refusal of an application for judicial review in turn of a refusal to allow private prosecutions of Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Lord Goldsmith in respect of their involvement in the war in Iraq, and the alleged crime of . .
Cited – Bancoult, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) SC 29-Jun-2016
Undisclosed Matter inadequate to revisit decision
The claimant sought to have set aside a decision of the House of Lords as to the validity of the 2004 Order, saying that it had been based on a failure by the defendant properly to disclose matters it was under a duty of candour to disclose.
Cited – Roberts and Others v Regina CACD 6-Dec-2018
Sentencing of Political Protesters
The defendants appealed against sentences for causing a public nuisance. They had been protesting against fracking by climbing aboard a lorry and blocking a main road for several days.
Held: The appeals from immediate custodial sentences were . .
Cited – National Highways Ltd v Heyatawin and Others QBD 17-Nov-2021
The court considered allegations of contempt of court by protesters disobeying court injunctions.
Held: The allegations were variously proved, and indeed were largely uncontested. Sentences of imprisonment were imposed ranging up to 6 months: . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, International, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 22 November 2021; Ref: scu.239745

Afzal v Her Majesty’s Advocate: HCJ 12 Sep 2013

The defendant appealed against his conviction for offences of rape and sexual assault. He complained as to the directions given to the jury on returning majority verdicts where: ‘the Learned Trial Judge ought to have directed the jury that in order to return a verdict of guilt a number of 8 of them had to be in favour of guilt in relation to each offence, and that only in those circumstances could a verdict of guilt be returned on the whole libel.’
Held: The deiderated direction was not necessary.

Lord Brodie, Lady Dorrian, Lord Woolman
[2013] ScotHC HCJAC – 103, 2013 SCL 954, 2013 GWD 30-596
Bailii

Scotland, Crime

Updated: 21 November 2021; Ref: scu.516526