The defendant appealed against a conviction for having a knife in a public place. He had been in his front garden.
Held: Persons such as the postman or milkman who have an implied licence to enter the garden do so not as members of the public but rather as lawful visitors. The front garden of this particular property, a Victorian terraced house, was a public place. The garden was no more than a metre wide, and the appellant could sit on the windowsill of the front room and put his feet on the top of the garden wall. Having regard to the purpose of the legislation, a public place was not merely land to which the public was permitted access but might also include land adjacent to areas where the public had access, provided that the harm against which the section was designed to provide protection could still be inflicted from such a place, and here it was perfectly possible for the appellant standing in his own garden to use the knife against a passing pedestrian.
Judges:
Diplock LJ, Bridge LJ
Citations:
[1978] 67 Crim App Rep 228
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Roberts CACD 20-Oct-2003
The appellant appealed against his conviction for having a bladed article in a public place. Police called at his home, and the ensuing struggle came out into the garden where he was arrested. He was later found to have the knife in his pocket.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.187009
