The defendant had induced a girl to accompany him about 100 yards to his car and to get into the back of it, by pretending to be a police officer searching for drugs and saying that he would escort her to her home. Before he could drive away, her boy friend arrived with two other men and rescued her. At trial, Robert Goff J, had directed the jury that the prosecution had first to prove was that the defendant deprived the victim of her liberty, and then show that he had secreted his victim or carried her away. This second requirement did not need that the victim should be physically carried. ‘It would be quite enough if, because of his conduct, the defendant had the practical effect upon [her] that she felt compelled to submit to his instructions and, for example, to walk a short distance.’ The defendant took the point that the offence of kidnapping was not complete unless and until the defendant succeeded in taking the victim to the destination to which he wished to take her.
Held: Lawton LJ said that the deprivation of liberty ‘has not been in dispute’. What was in issue was the carrying away: ‘All that has to be proved is the false imprisonment, the deprivation of liberty coupled with a carrying away from the place where the victim wants to be. It may be that in some circumstances the movement would not be sufficient in the estimation of the jury to amount to a carrying away. Every case has to be considered on its own facts. In this case the victim was carried away by the appellant for no less than 100 yards and put into a motor car. In our judgment, there was ample evidence that the victim was carried away from the place where she wanted to be, namely by the side of her boyfriend on Stafford Common. There is nothing in the point of law which is raised in this appeal.’
Judges:
Lawton LJ
Citations:
[1978] 1 WLR 921, [1978] 3 All ER 161
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Hendy-Freegard CACD 23-May-2007
The defendant against appealed his conviction for kidnapping. He had fraudulently taken control of his victims’ lives and fleeced them. He was said to have kidnapped them, originally by persuading them to get into his car and then driving off. He . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.253654