The defendant had plea of guilty to two charges of inciting his daughter, aged 15, to commit incest with him. He appealed saying that it was possible that the offences of which he had been convicted were unknown to the law. The prosecution conceded that the common law offence of incitement consisted of inciting another to commit a crime and that a girl aged 15 was incapable of committing the crime of incest by statute. The prosecution argued that the indictment could be read to charge the defendant with inciting his daughter to aid and abet him to have unlawful sexual intercourse with her, contrary to another statutory provision.
Held: The appeal succeeded. As the daughter was incapable of committing the crime of incest, the defendant could not be guilty of the common law offence of incitement. Further, given the statutory context, the daughter could not in law have aided and abetted her father to commit incest with her. It followed that there was no offence known to the law of a man inciting a girl under the age of 16 to aid and abet him to have unlawful sexual intercourse with her.
Scarman, Geoffrey Lane LJJ, Donaldson J
[1977] EWCA Crim 2, [1977] 3 All ER 737, 142 JP 45, [1977] 2 WLR 925, (1977) 65 Cr App Rep 33, [1977] QB 868
Bailii
England and Wales
Crime
Leading Case
Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.249938