The defendants appealed against conviction and sentence for membership of an organisation proscribed under the 2000 Act. The defendants said that at the time they joined the organisation was not proscribed, and had left before it became proscribed. They said that they had gone to Germany to make explicit their resignations and were stopped on returning. Membership cards were found.
Held: The appeals against conviction failed. It could not be sufficient to avoid liability here to merely join a foreign branch of the same organisation. This did not mean that the section had extra-territorial effect. The offence was committed by the presence of the defendant in this country. The defendants said that provisions under which the searches had been carried out infringed their human rights. The case of Saunders distinguished between the enforced disclosure of an existing document and the creation of a new one.
As to sentence neither defendant knew of the illegality of their acts, and the sentences were reduced from 30 months to twelve.
Lord Woolf of Barnes LCJ, Richards J, Henriques J
Times 13-Feb-2004, [2004] EWCA Crim 389, [2004] 2 Cr App R 19, [2004] 2 CAR 19
Bailii
Terrorism Act 2000 11(1), European Convention on Human Rights 6
England and Wales
Citing:
Approved – Regina v Kearns CACD 22-Mar-2002
The defendant had failed to account for the disappearance of a substantial part of his estate to the official receiver following his bankruptcy. He appealed his conviction for failing to provide an account, saying that the requirement to provide . .
Cited – Saunders v The United Kingdom ECHR 17-Dec-1996
(Grand Chamber) The subsequent use against a defendant in a prosecution, of evidence which had been obtained under compulsion in company insolvency procedures was a convention breach of Art 6. Although not specifically mentioned in Article 6 of the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v S and A CACD 9-Oct-2008
The defendant appealed against his conviction under the 2000 Act for failing to disclose the key used to encrypt a computer file. He was subject to a control order as a suspected terrorist. As the police raided his house, they found the key had been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Human Rights
Leading Case
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.276972