A lockable folding knife was a fixed blade knife where a process was required in order to refold it. To be ‘a folding pocket-knife’ the blade has to be readily and immediately foldable at all times simply by the folding process. It held that a knife which on opening automatically locks and cannot be folded until a button has been pressed is not ‘a folding pocket-knife’ within the meaning of Section 139. McCowan LJ said: ‘to be a folding pocket-knife the knife has to be readily and indeed immediately foldable at all times, simply by the folding process. A knife of the type with which these appeals are concerned is not in this category because, in the first place, there is a stage, namely, when it has been opened, when it is not immediately foldable simply by the folding process and, secondly, it requires that further process, namely, the pressing of the button.’
Judges:
McCowan LJ
Citations:
Gazette 09-Sep-1992, (1992) 96 Cr App R 235
Statutes:
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Deegan CACD 4-Feb-1998
The defendant appealed his conviction for possession of a bladed article in a public place. It was a pocket knife which locked open, but its blade could be retracted on using the mechanism, and did not exceed three inches.
Held: The Court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81252