Devlin v Armstrong: CANI 1971

The defendant faced a charge of riot. He said that he had held an honest and reasonable belief that the police were about to behave unlawfully.
Held: The Court assumed that the accused did honestly and reasonably so believe, but held that for a number of reasons it constituted no defence in the circumstances: it was not questioned that in other circumstances it might be the correct criterion.

Judges:

Lord MacDermott LCJ

Citations:

[1971] LR NI 13

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Cited by:

CitedRegina v Morgan HL 30-Apr-1975
The defendants appealed against their convictions for rape, denying mens rea and asserting a belief (even if mistaken) that the victim had consented.
Held: For a defence of mistake to succeed, the mistake must have been honestly made and need . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 01 July 2022; Ref: scu.258675