The appellant appealed by case stated against the dismissal of his appeal against his conviction by the magistrates’ court of harassment contrary to section 2 of the PHA. The appellant and the victim were neighbours, and there was a history of civil litigation between them which included boundary disputes. The victim was an employee of the Department of Social Security. On two dates in the July 1997, the appellant telephoned the DSS and spoke to an employee who was senior to the victim and alleged, in substance, that the victim had been moonlighting. Notes of the two telephone calls were passed on to the DSS Regional Manager, who subsequently informed the victim of the fact and nature of the telephone calls. It was accepted by the appellant that the fact that the victim was caused distress when told of these telephone calls constituted harassment in the light of section 7(2) of the PHA.
The principal argument advanced on behalf of the appellant was that the conviction was only possible because the victim was told about the telephone calls contrary to the appellant’s expressed intention; and it was submitted that the appellant could not, in those circumstances, be held criminally liable for the consequences of another’s act. The respondent submitted, among other things, that there was clearly evidence on the basis of which the court could conclude that his was still a course of conduct which he knew or ought to have known amounted to harassment of the complainant, and relied on the finding below that: ‘It was a clearly foreseeable and inevitable result of passing the information to her employer that [the victim] would find out about the telephone calls made by the appellant, and any reasonable person in possession of the same information as the appellant would have been aware and expected that the matter would inevitably at some stage be raised with her’.
Penry-Davey J stated: ‘The court concluded in the words that I have already read that it was a foreseeable and inevitable result’ and continued: ’16. In my judgment there is no error of law in the approach adopted by the Crown Court in this case and the questions posed are to be answered in the affirmative. The offence was only complete when the complainant was told of the telephone calls made by the appellant in that it was the knowledge of his conduct that caused her distress. But the fact that she had been informed of the course of conduct by a third party rather than by the appellant himself did not mean that there was no offence committed once she had been so informed, even in circumstances where the appellant had asked that she should not be so informed, so long as there was evidence on the basis of which the court could properly conclude, as it clearly did, that the appellant was pursuing a course of conduct which he knew or ought to have known amounted to harassment of the complainant.
The court could and did have regard also to section 1(2) providing that a person ought to know that it amounts to harassment of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the course of conduct amounted to harassment of the other.
There was in my judgment evidence on the basis of which the court could properly conclude, and it did so conclude, that those allegations were made out. Equally, in my judgment, there was ample evidence in the circumstances of this case for the court to conclude that the appellant’s pursuit of the course of conduct was not reasonable. He went considerably beyond the simple reporting of the fact that the complainant was at home when he contended that she should be working and alleged, for example, fraud and an extortionate salary.’
Judges:
Rose LJ, Penry-Davey J,
Citations:
[2001] EWHC Admin 107
Statutes:
Protection from Harassment Act2A 3 1997
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Gerrard and Another v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Ltd and Another QBD 27-Nov-2020
The claimants, a solicitor and his wife, sought damages in harassment and data protection, against a party to proceedings in which he was acting professionally, and against the investigative firm instructed by them. The defendants now requested the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.657038