The defendant had been convicted of an affray when she had lunged at her boyfriend with a knife in a car park.
Held: The appeal succeeded. A ‘person of reasonable firmness’ who must be concerned for an affray offence to be committed, must be a third party, and not the victim of the affray. The trial judge had failed to direct the jury to consider whether a reasonable hypothetical bystander would have feared for his personal safety.
Judges:
Simon Brown LJ
Citations:
Times 06-Mar-1996, [1996] Crim LR 572
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – I v Director of Public Prosecutions etc HL 8-Mar-2001
A group of youths carried petrol bombs in public, anticipating a confrontation with another group. They did not brandish them or actually threaten anybody. On dispersal by the police the bombs were dropped. On being charged with affray it was held . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 01 December 2022; Ref: scu.87669
