The defendant had been arrested and then taken to hospital for treatment. On completion of his treatment, he could not find the constable, so went home. He now appealed from conviction of escape contrary to common law.
Held: The prosecution must in a case concerning escape prove four things: –
i) that the defendant was in custody;
ii) that the defendant knew that he was in custody (or at least was reckless as to whether he was or not);
iii) that the custody was lawful; and
iv) that the defendant intentionally escaped from that lawful custody.
‘This was a case arising from events some six years earlier. It raised issues of some difficulty against an unusual factual background. A careful direction on the law and a consequential careful identification of the relevant issues was called for. Taking the summing up both in its constituent parts and as a whole does not, in our judgment, match up to these requirements. We are unable to conclude that the conviction was safe and it must be quashed.’
Judges:
Mr Justice David Steel
Citations:
[2005] EWCA Crim 2996, [2006] 1 Cr App Rep 15, [2006] 2 WLR 1535
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Timmis CACD 1976
The defendant had been stopped as a result of erratic driving and breathalysed. The test proving positive, the defendant was told that we would be taken in custody to a police station and he was placed in a police car. He was then left alone for . .
Cited – Dillon v The Queen PC 25-Jan-1982
(Jamaica) The appellant police officer had been convicted that by his negligence he had allowed two prisoners to escape from custody. Given doubt that they were in fact lawfully in custody he argued that there was an onus on the prosecution to . .
Cited – E v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 26-Feb-2002
A youth court remanded the appellant to a local authority with a requirement that the local authority detain him in secure accommodation. No such accommodation was however available. He was brought back to the Youth Court by a member of the youth . .
Cited – Regina v Rumble CACD 2003
The defendant had surrendered to his bail at a Magistrates Court. There was no usher and no security staff. Following imposition of a custodial sentence, the defendant escaped through the public entrance. It was submitted on an appeal that the . .
Cited – H, Regina (on the Application Of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 4-Apr-2003
Appeal from conviction of an offence of escape from lawful custody contrary to common law. The central issue in the case is whether at material time when the appellant admittedly absconded he had escaped from lawful custody. The appellant was aged . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 23 November 2022; Ref: scu.236591