Tag: Crime

Tirnaveanu, Regina v: CACD 24 May 2007

The defendant had been convicted of posing as a solicitor in order to commit frauds. He appealed, saying that the court had wrongly admitted evidence of his dealings with illegal immigrants.
Held: The evidence admitted was highly relevant as evidence of bad character. The section has to be applied after a fact-specific exercise. The court found no significant difference between the effects of the words in section 78(1) of the 1984 Act and section 101(3) of the 2003 Act. In this case it had been correctly admitted.
Thomas LJ gave the following analysis of section 98 of the 2003 Act: ‘Was the evidence ‘to do with the alleged facts of the offence’?
Section 98 of the CJA 2003 excludes from the definition of bad character, misconduct on the part of a defendant which has ‘to do with the alleged facts of the offence with which the defendant is charged’. The contention of the prosecution was that the evidence was ‘to do’ with the offences with which the appellant was charged. The consequence of that argument was that, if the evidence was within the exclusion, then it was not for the purposes of the statutory provisions evidence of bad character and, as this court said in Edwards and Rowlands (at [1(i)]) (as qualified in R. v Watson [2006] EWCA Crim 2308 at [19]), the evidence ‘may be admissible without more ado’.
There is very little authority on the extent of this exclusion. In R. v Machado [2006] EWCA Crim 837, the defendant charged with robbing a victim wished to use evidence that the victim had taken an ecstasy tablet shortly before the attack and immediately before the attack had offered to supply him drugs. This court held that the matters were in effect contemporaneous and so closely connected with the alleged facts of the offence, and so were ‘to do’ with the facts of the offence. In Edwards and Rowlands, this court observed at [23] that the term was widely drawn and wide enough to cover the finding of a pistol cartridge at the home of one of the defendants when it was searched in connection with the drugs offences with which the defendants were charged. In R. v McKintosh [2006] EWCA Crim 193, this court held that a matter immediately following the commission of the offence was ‘to do with the offence’. In Watson, an assault committed was held to do with the charge of rape committed upon the same person later in the day. Professor J.R. Spencer, Q.C. in his useful monograph, Evidence of Bad Character at para.2.23 suggested that it clearly covered acts which the defendant committed at the same time and place as the main offence and presumably covered acts by way of preparation for the main offence and an earlier criminal act which was the reason for the main crime.
The basis on which it was contended before us by the prosecution that the evidence which they sought to adduce was ‘to do’ with the facts of the alleged offence was that it was evidence which was central to the case in that it related to proving that the appellant was the person who had committed the offences charged in the various counts. We do not accede to that submission. As counsel for the prosecution accepted, if his submission was right, then in any case, where the identity of the defendant was in issue (including, by way of example, cases of sexual misconduct), the prosecution would be able to rely on this exclusion to adduce evidence of misconduct on other occasions which helped to prove identity. It seems to us that the exclusion must be related to evidence where there is some nexus in time between the offence with which the defendant is charged and the evidence of misconduct which the prosecution seek to adduce. In the commentary in the Criminal Law Review to R. v T [2006] EWCA Crim 2006; [2007] 1 Cr. App. R. 4 (p.43); [2007] Crim. L.R. 165, it was argued that the court in Machado and McKintosh had taken too narrow a view of s.98 thereby permitting prejudicial evidence to be admitted on the threshold test of relevance alone with no gateway having to be satisfied. We do not agree-the application of s.98 is a fact-specific exercise involving the interpretation of ordinary words.
We respectfully agree with Professor J.R. Spencer, Q.C. Evidence of Bad Character at para.2.23, where he suggests that there is a potential overlap between evidence that has to do with the alleged facts of the offence and evidence that might be admitted through one of the gateways in s.101(1) . As he observes in relation to the example he took of prior misconduct being the reason for the commission of the offence, such evidence could be admitted either as ‘to do’ with the offence or as important explanatory evidence under s.101(1)(c): ‘In practice nothing of any legal significance depends on which of these two routes it is by which the evidence comes in.’

Judges:

Thomas LJ, Penry-Davey J, Wyn-Williams J

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Crim 1239, Times 02-Jul-2007

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 2003 98(a) 101(3), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 78(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Lunkulu and Others v Regina CACD 7-Aug-2015
Request for leave to appeal out of time against convictions for murder and against sentence. Much evidence had been circumstantial, and the defendants alleged bias in the summing up, and complained of the admission of bad character evidence.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.252550

Regina v Jones: CACD 15 May 2007

The defendant appealed against his conviction for causing or inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity following a guilty plea after a direction that it was not necessary for the prosecution to identify any particular child as having been so affected. He had written graffiti in train stations seeking girls between 8 and 13 for sex. A woman police officer pretended to be a twelve year olf girl responding to te graffiti.
Held: The appeal failed. The offence targeted the acts of incitement. The police had not instigated the offence, only provided the defendant with an opportunity to commit it, and his acts were more than merely preparatory.

Judges:

Thomas LJ, Penry-Davey, Wyn Williams JJ

Citations:

Times 08-Jun-2007, [2007] EWCA Crim 1118, [2007] 3 WLR 907, [2007] 4 All ER 112, [2008] QB 460

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Sexual Offences Act 2003 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.252325

Boulton v Regina: CACD 26 Apr 2007

The defendant appealed convictions for rape and other serious sexual offences, and witness intimidation. He complained that witnesses had been allowed to have their evidence read out because of their fear of him.
Held: In view of the extent of the allegations, the judge’s aproach was correct. The appeal failed.

Judges:

Hooper LJ, Ginns LJ, Roderick Evans J

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Crim 942

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Z (Attorney General for Northern Ireland’s Reference) HL 19-May-2005
The defendants appealed their convictions for being members of proscribed organisations. They were members of the ‘Real IRA’, but only the IRA was actually proscribed.
Held: The appeals failed. In construing an Act of Parliament it may be of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251531

Regina v Panayiotou and Another: CACD 1973

Interfering with potential witnesses, so as to prevent or dissuade them from testifying are acts which amount to perverting the course of Justice.

Citations:

[1973] 1 WLR 1032

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Confirmed – Regina v Grimes CACD 1968
Judge Kilner Brown confirmed the existence of the crime of attempting to pervert the course of justice: ‘Certain actions such as cheating or behaving obscenely may not be offences in a private connotation, but once the public is involved, either by . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Cotter and Others CACD 10-May-2002
The defendants appealed against convictions for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. They said that the fact that an investigation followed a false allegation was insufficient to found a complaint, and that the extent of the crime was so . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.383658

Bree, Regina v: CACD 26 Mar 2007

The defendant appealed his conviction for rape. He said the girl had consented, despite having drunk substantial quantities of alcohol.
Held: The voluntary consumption of much alcohol did not remove the possibility that the girl had consented to sex. Capacity to consent might evaporate well before she became unconscious, but it was a question of fact in each case. The Act defined consent by reference to capacity to make the choice. Any problems woiud arise not from the definition, but from the infinite variety of human life.

Judges:

Sir Igor Judge P, Hallett LJ, Gloster J

Citations:

Times 07-May-2007, [2007] EWCA Crim 804, [2007] 2 All ER 676, [2007] 3 WLR 600, [2008] QB 131

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Sexual Offences Act 2003 1 74, Criminal Justice Act 2003 74

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251413

Gallagher, Regina v: CACD 26 Mar 2007

The defendant appealed his conviction for rape, saying that other acquittals were inconsistent.
Held: They were not. Leave refused.

Judges:

QBD P, Hallett LJ, Gloster J

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Crim 256

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Sheehan and Moore CACD 1975
The court approved a direction of law to the jury who had been asked to conclude that the voluntary consumption of alcohol by the defendant should lead to the conclusion that he was too drunk to form the intention required for proof of the crime . .
Cited – Regina v Dougal CC 1-Nov-2005
(Swansea Crown Court) The defendant was accused of rape. He said that she had consented. The complainant gave evidence after which the prosuction declined to bring further evidence, telling the jury: ‘the prosecution are conscious of the fact that a . .
Cited – Regina v Malone CACD 1-May-1998
The defendant appealed his conviction for rape, arguing that the girl, though drunk, had consented.
Held: The Court approved the judge’s direction as follows: ‘She does not claim to have physically resisted nor to have verbally protested. She . .
Cited – Regina v Lang CACD 1976
The defendant was accused of rape. The jury sought guidance from the judge on the question of whether the complainant’s alcohol consumption may have vitiated her consent to sexual intercourse.
Held: ‘there is no special rule applicable to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.250489

Whittle, Regina v: CACD 9 Mar 2007

The defendant appealed his sentence of five years for supplying heroin.
Held: The court had been correct not to apply the additional discounts to the Dharja guidelines. The main appeal failed, though the offence had not been one attracting the possibility of an order retsricting the defendant’s right to travel on release, and that order was revoked.

Judges:

Hooper LJ, Stanley Burnton J, Barker J Common Serjeant

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Crim 539

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 27

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Danga CACD 1992
The defendant, aged twenty, should have been sentenced to detention in a young offender’s institution rather than imprisonment. . .
Cited – Regina v Djahit CACD 1999
The starting point for sentence in a case of supplying heroin lies in the range of between 5 and 7 years. . .
Cited – Regina v Martin (S) CACD 5-Apr-2006
The defendant appealed a nine year sentence for importation of cocaine.
Held: The notional standard was twelve years. The defendant said she should have recieved a discount of one third for her guilty plea and other mitigation. The courts . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.249962

Regina v Collis-Smith: CACD 30 Sep 1971

The defendant appealed against his conviction on a charge of: ‘obtaining property by deception contrary to Section 15(1) of the Theft Act 1968 for that you on the 24th February 1971, in the County of Warwick dishonestly obtained from William Arthur Snell 6 gallons of petrol with the intention of permanently depriving William Arthur Snell of the said petrol, by deception, namely false oral representation that you, Andrew David Collis-Smith, was authorised to draw petrol for your private motor car on the account of your employer, James Paper Sacks Limited.’ The petrol had been put in the car before he was asked how it would be paid for.
Held: The appeal was allowed: ‘he Court takes the view that as the evidence emerged in this case – leaving aside altogether the question of ownership, which might involve difficult points under the Sale of Goods Act -possession and control must certainly have been obtained at the time the petrol was put in the tank. If that be the case, neither possession nor control took place after the moment of the deception – the deception came later; and for that reason, the obtaining was obtained before the deception was made. It is perfectly true that if this charge had been laid – even under this Section – in a different form, something to the effect that there was an implied representation made that the petrol would be paid for by the buyer, or an implied representation that it would be paid for at all, and the putting of the petrol in the tank followed that, the situation might be quite different; and it is therefore desirable to emphasise that the Court is only deciding this case on the charge as it was drafted in this case, and on the evidence as it emerged in this case.’

Judges:

Megaw LJ, Cusack, Croom-Johnson JJ

Citations:

[1971] EWCA Crim 1, [1971] Crim LR 716

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Theft Act 1968 15(1)

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.249924

Regina v Cato and others: CACD 15 Oct 1975

The defendant had injected the deceased with heroin. He appealed his conviction for manslaughter.
Held: Proof of manslaughter requires proof that the unlawful act substantially contributed to the death of the victim.

Citations:

[1976] 1 WLR 110, [1975] EWCA Crim 5, 140 JP 169, [1976] 1 All ER 260, 62 Cr App Rep 41

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Kennedy HL 17-Oct-2007
The defendant had been convicted of manslaughter. He had supplied a class A drug to a friend who then died taking it. The House was asked ‘When is it appropriate to find someone guilty of manslaughter where that person has been involved in the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.249935

Regina v Burstow: Admn 29 Jul 1996

Grievous bodily harm can be inflicted by a stalker without direct physical contact and can include psychological damage. The statute could be interpreted to reflect current standards.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill LCJ, Owen, Connell JJ

Citations:

Gazette 25-Sep-1996, Times 30-Jul-1996, [1996] EWHC Admin 49, [1997] 1 Cr App R 144

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Offences Against the Person Act 1861 20

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Fagan v Metropolitan Commissioner 31-Jul-1968
The defendant was told by a police officer to park up his car. He did so, but stopped with his wheel, trapping the officer’s foot. The magistrates were unable to decide whether the parking on the officer’s foot was deliberate, but agreed that . .
Cited – Regina v Chan-Fook CACD 15-Nov-1993
‘Actual bodily harm’ under the 1861 Act, may include injury to any part of the body, including internal organs, the nervous system and the brain. It is capable of including psychiatric injury, but not mere emotion such as fear, distress or panic. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Burstow, Regina v Ireland HL 24-Jul-1997
The defendant was accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he had made silent phone calls which were taken as threatening.
Held: An assault might consist of the making of a silent telephone call in circumstances where it causes . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.88399

The Director of Public Prosecutions v SK: Admn 10 Feb 2016

The prosecutor appealed against dismissal of a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The defendant had completed somebody else’s community service sentence. The prosecutor said that such an act did affect something ‘in the course of justice.’
Held: The appeal succeeded: ‘ I would reject the notion that the facts forming the basis of this offence break new ground even though the example may not have previously been analysed by the court. As in cases involving restraint orders, this case also concerns continuing and ongoing criminal process intended to enforce the requirement to undertake unpaid work. To that end, providing cover for the failure to perform such work perverts (perhaps better here understood as frustrates) the course of justice. Given that in this case there was a prospect that breach could be brought, it is unnecessary to consider whether the offence could be proved by showing that there had been a dishonest interference with a sentence which is no longer extant, for example where an order for unpaid work had been revoked because of the apparent ill health of the offender but it subsequently emerged that he had conspired with others to feign injury. ‘

Citations:

[2016] EWHC 837 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Vreones 1891
It was alleged that the defendant had tampered with a sample of wheat to be used in an arbitration, and he was accused of perverting the course of justice.
Held: Perverting the course of justice is a common law offence covering a wide variety . .
Cited – Regina v Knuller (Publishing, Printing and Promotions) Ltd; Knuller etc v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1972
The defendants were charged after pasting up in telephone booths advertisements for homosexual services. They published a magazine with similar advertisements. The House was asked to confirm the existence of an offence of outraging public decency. . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecution v Withers HL 20-Nov-1974
The House was asked to consider whether there existed the crime of a conspiracy to commit a public mischief.
Held: There was no such crime, since it was so undefined as to be unfair to any defendant. Although at common law no clear distinction . .
Cited – Regina v Clark CACD 4-Apr-2003
The defendant had been involved in a car crash. He drove his car home, and reported the accident only the following day. He appealed against a conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice, having defeated any possibility of his being . .
Cited – Kenny v Regina CACD 30-Jan-2013
The appellant had made a loan to a third party defendant in criminal fraud proceedings. At the time he did not know that that third party was subject to a restraint order under the 2002 Act. When he did come to know of the order he was asked to say . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.571402

Smith, Regina v: CACD 4 Nov 2002

The defendant appealed from her conviction for the murder of her husband, saying that she had been subject to abuse over many years, and was subject to long term depression.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The court had not given proper weight to the expert evidence as to the defendant’s mental condition.

Judges:

Rose VP CACD LJ, Hughes, Royce JJ

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Crim 2671

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Homicide Act 1957 3

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Challen, Regina v CACD 28-Feb-2019
Appeal from conviction for murder. The defendant had killed her husband with a hammer. She said that he had, through his controlling behaviour, abused her over many years.
Held: The verdict of manslaughter was substituted. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.270003

Shaw v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 25 Jan 2007

The defendant appealed by case started against his conviction for having custody of a dog whilst subject to a prohibition order.

Judges:

Scott Barker LJ, David Clarke J

Citations:

[2007] EWHC 207 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1954

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Animals, Crime

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248942

Regina v Francis; CPS Leicester, Regina v: CACD 21 Dec 2006

Whilst in custody in the police station, the defendant was visited by the police surgeon. He was accused of causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress after abusing the doctor. The Crown appealed acceptance of his defence that the cell was for the time being his residence under section 31 of the 1986 Act which provided that an offence would not be committed by the use of such words by a person inside a dwelling.
Held: The prosecutor’s appeal succeeded: ‘A police cell is not a home. It is not ‘other accommodation where a person lives’, even though a person detained in a police cell may from time to time do the same things which he or she may do in this own home, or in the place where he or she lives. The judge was accordingly wrong to rule that the police cell came within the exception to subsection (2) of section 4A. A police cell is a place where a person is detained in custody, not a place which a person occupies as living accommodation.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Moses, Mr Justice Goldring and Judge Martin Stephens

Citations:

[2007] 1 WLR 1021, Times 17-Jan-2007, [2006] EWCA Crim 3323

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Crime and Disorder Act 1998 31(1)(b), Public Order Act 1986 4A

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – The Director of Public Prosecutions v Distill Admn 8-Sep-2017
Dwelling did not include the garden
The DPP appealed by case stated from a decision dismissing a prosecution for racially aggravated use of threatening words or behaviour. Both parties, neighbours, had been in their back gardens when the defendant was said to have shouted racial . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248005

Regina v Denton: CACD 22 Oct 1981

The defendant was charged with criminal damage by setting fire to a building. It was owned by a company which in turn he owned.
Held: There is nothing unlawful about destroying one’s own property

Judges:

Lord Lane LCJ, Mustill, McCullough JJ

Citations:

[1982] 1 All ER 65, [1981] 1 WLR 1446, [1981] EWCA Crim 4

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Damage Act 1971 1(2) 1(3)

Crime

Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.247942

Regina v Selvage, Morgan: CACD 1981

A conspiracy to effect some other unlawfulness but which has no tendency to cause a miscarriage of justice in curial proceedings, is not a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. If no proceedings of any kind are in contemplation at the time the relevant act by the accused was done, then there is no interference with the course of justice.
Unless the principles governing the offence of perverting the course of justice which emerge from the reported cases are well recognised and properly applied there is a danger of bringing into existence a hitherto unrecognised and unwarranted extension of the ambit of this offence. Caution is required in extending the ambit of this offence.
Watkins LJ gave an illustrative list of instances of perverting the course of justice: ‘That conduct includes giving false information to the police with the object of among other things putting the police on a false trail, obstructing the police in their inquiries into crime, the destruction of or other interferences with evidence and bringing wrongful influence to bear upon witnesses or potential witnesses.’ He went on to urge caution in extending the ambit of the offence to new fact patterns: ‘In our judgment unless the principles governing the offence of perverting the course of justice which emerge from the reported cases are well recognised and properly applied there is a danger of bringing into existence a hitherto unrecognised and unwarranted extension of the ambit of this offence.’

Judges:

Watkins LJ

Citations:

[1982] QB 372, [1982] 1 All ER 96, (1981) 73 Cr App R 333

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Clark CACD 4-Apr-2003
The defendant had been involved in a car crash. He drove his car home, and reported the accident only the following day. He appealed against a conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice, having defeated any possibility of his being . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.181078

Regina v Thornton (SE) (No 2): CACD 6 Jun 1996

Battered woman syndrome may be part of provocation if it causes a loss of control. The history of the relationship between the appellant and the deceased could properly be taken into account in deciding whether the final provocation was enough to make the statutory ordinary person act as he did.

Citations:

Times 06-Jun-1996, [1996] 1 WLR 1174

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Regina v Thornton (Sara) CACD 13-Dec-1995
Battered women’s syndrome may be a relevant characteristic in a murder trial to be taken account of when judging context of provocation. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Williams v The Queen PC 23-Nov-1998
(Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) The defendant was convicted of having killed his wife. He had killed his children but faced no charge on that issue. He complained of the admission of evidence showing that he had killed the children. In his . .
Cited – Challen, Regina v CACD 28-Feb-2019
Appeal from conviction for murder. The defendant had killed her husband with a hammer. She said that he had, through his controlling behaviour, abused her over many years.
Held: The verdict of manslaughter was substituted. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.88186

Regina v Rafique and Others: CACD 23 Apr 1993

Acts carried out before the start of enquiry which was intended to interfere with that enquiry may still pervert cause of justice. Here a body or weapon had been hidden in order to impede the inquiry.

Citations:

Independent 23-Apr-1993, Gazette 16-Jun-1993, [1993] QB 843, [1993] 97 Cr App R 395

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Rex v Tibbits and Windust 1902
The editor published articles prepared by a reporter, affecting the conduct and character of some persons under trial. Both the editor and the reporter were charged with unlawfully attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Held: Lord . .
Cited – Rex v Tibbits and Windust 1902
The editor published articles prepared by a reporter, affecting the conduct and character of some persons under trial. Both the editor and the reporter were charged with unlawfully attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Held: Lord . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Clark CACD 4-Apr-2003
The defendant had been involved in a car crash. He drove his car home, and reported the accident only the following day. He appealed against a conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice, having defeated any possibility of his being . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.87590

Data Protection Registrar v Amnesty International (British Section): Admn 8 Nov 1994

The defendants had been charged with recklessly holding and then disclosing information about named individuals. It had exchanged a list of potential addressee’s for use in mailing lists with another charity.
Held: Recklessness is defined by reference to the defendant’s foresight of the consequences as listed in the section, rather than the degree of harm to the data subject. The magistrate had confused the seriousness of the consequences of the breach with the breach itself. The appeal against the dismissal of the charges failed. To establish recklessness, the prosecution ‘must prove first that there is something in the circumstances that would have drawn the attention of an ordinary, prudent individual to the possibility that this act was capable of causing the kind of mischief that sections 5(2) and 5(5) are intended to prevent and that the risk of those mischiefs occurring was not so slight that the ordinary, prudent individual would feel justified in regarding them as negligible. Secondly the prosecution must prove that before doing the act, the defendant either failed to give any thought to the possibility of their being such a risk, or, having recognised that there was such a risk, he nevertheless went on to do it.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Rose and Mr Justice Scott Baker

Citations:

Times 23-Nov-1994, CO 1323/94, [1995] Crim L R 633

Statutes:

Data Protection Act 1984 5(2) 5(5)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Lawrence (Stephen) HL 1981
The defendant had ridden a motor-cycle and hit a pedestrian. The court asked whether he had been reckless.
Held: The House understood recklessness as ‘a state of mind stopping short of deliberate intention, and going beyond mere inadvertence’ . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police v Caldwell HL 19-Mar-1981
The defendant got drunk and set fire to the hotel where he worked. Guests were present. He was indicted upon two counts of arson. He pleaded guilty to the 1(1) count but contested the 1(2) charge, saying he was so drunk that the thought there might . .

Cited by:

Cited – Information Commissioner v Islington London Borough Council Admn 24-May-2002
The commissioner appealed a dismissal of her case against a council, complaining that the council knowingly or recklessly used personal data for the collection of council tax, for which registration had expired.
Held: It was not necessary to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Information, Crime

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.79818

Nedrick-Smith v -Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 15 Nov 2006

Appeals against conviction of an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, contrary to section 47 the 1861 Act. It is common ground that Heather Lewis was assaulted on 6th November 2005 when she was attacked in her home. It is further common ground that during the incident blows were struck by three women, and that no blows were struck by the appellant. The question for the magistrates was whether the appellant was a party to the attack, a party to a joint enterprise.

Judges:

Waller LJ, Lllyd-Jones J

Citations:

[2006] EWHC 3015 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Offences Against the Person Act 1861 47

Crime

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.246756

Stewart and Another, Regina v: CACD 10 Nov 1994

Hobhouse LJ said: ‘The question whether the relevant act was committed in the course of carrying out the joint enterprise in which the defendant was a participant is a question of fact not law. If the act was not so committed then the joint enterprise ceases to provide a basis for a finding of guilt against such a defendant. He ceases to be responsible for the act. This is the fundamental point illustrated by Anderson and Morris and Lovesey and Peterson. But it does not follow that a variation in the intent of some of the participants at the time the critical act is done precludes the act from having been done in the course of carrying out the joint enterprise as is illustrated by Betty and Reid.
The appeals against conviction must accordingly be dismissed.!

Judges:

Hobhouse LJ, Turner, Wright JJ

Citations:

[1994] EWCA Crim 3, [1995] 1 Cr App R 441, [1995] 3 All ER 159

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Reid CACD 1975
Three men, alleged by the Crown to be supporters of the IRA, armed with weapons, went to the house of an army officer at night. When he opened the door one of them shot him. Two were convicted of murder; the third, Reid, was acquitted of murder but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.245682

Broadhead, Regina v: CACD 23 Jun 2006

Appeal from conviction for murder.
Held: The appeal succeeded, and the conviction quashed: ‘ there was so little evidence implicating the appellant in the attack that no reasonable jury could properly have convicted on the evidence as it stood at the end of the Crown’s case.’

Citations:

[2006] EWCA Crim 1705

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 07 July 2022; Ref: scu.243340

Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd v HM Courts Service (South West Region, Devon and Cornwall Area) and others: Admn 14 Jun 2006

The defendants sought judicial review of decisions by magistrates to substitute out of time properly named companies as defendants in cases under the 1990 Act.
Held: The court had repeated the error made in the Marco case, by substituting as a defendant a party not before the court. The effect of the district judge’s decision was, in my view, to prefer a charge against a new defendant outside the statutory time limit.

Citations:

[2006] EWHC 1749 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Food Safety Act 1990 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Marco (Croydon) Ltd v Metropolitan Police Commissioner QBD 1983
The defendant company traded as A and J Bull Containers. They hired out a builder’s skip which was left out, unlit, on the highway at night. A cyclist rode into it and died. An information was laid against ‘A J Bull Ltd’, charging an offence under . .
Cited – Regina v Greater Manchester Justices Ex Parte Aldi Gmbh and Co Kg; Aldi Gmbh v Mulvenna QBD 28-Dec-1994
The substitution of a defendant in a case before the magistrates was challengeable where it was not a mere mistake in the name of the defendant. The wholesalers who should have been named had been in correspondence for some time with the prosecutor . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Consumer, Magistrates, Crime

Updated: 07 July 2022; Ref: scu.243311

West Sussex County Council, Regina (on the Application of) v Kahraman: Admn 13 Jun 2006

The complainant appealed dismissal of charges against the respondent of displaying for sale goods bearing marks identical to registered trade marks. The defendant asserted that he had reasonable grounds for belief that the goods were not counterfeit having cecked with market officials and a VAT inspector. The magistrates had acted on the basis that the test was objective not subjective,
Held: The prosecutor’s appeal was allowed. McCombe J: ‘a market trader, like Mr Kahraman here, who purchases goods with well-known designer names on them at very low prices, from a person of unknown identity (even if not positively ‘disreputable’) and with no positive evidence of trade reputation cannot begin to discharge the burden of proof imposed upon him by Section 92(5). It cannot conceivably be sufficient to observe other traders in similar circumstances buying goods or that the defendant is inexperienced in his trade or new to the market. The defence of reasonableness applies in equal manner to the experienced and the inexperienced. ‘

Judges:

Latham LJ, McCombe J, Dobbs J

Citations:

[2006] EWHC 1703 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Trade Marks Act 1994 92(5)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v McCrudden CACD 2005
Laws LJ: ‘Section 92(5) affords a positive and specific defence as to the use of the trade mark by the defendant. It does not provide a general defence of good faith … It seems to us that the provisions contained in section 92 have been devised to . .
Cited – Regina v Johnstone HL 22-May-2003
The defendant was convicted under the 1994 Act of producing counterfeit CDs. He argued that the affixing of the name of the artist to the CD was not a trade mark use, and that the prosecution had first to establish a civil offence before his act . .
Cited – Regina v Rhodes CACD 2002
Andrew Smith J: ‘No doubt in many cases the fact that a trader could ascertain whether a trade mark was registered by searching the register will make it extremely difficult to establish a belief involving ignorance of a registered mark is held on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Crime

Updated: 07 July 2022; Ref: scu.243313

Regina v G: CACD 12 Apr 2006

The defendant pleaded guilty to the rape of a twelve year old girl on the agreed basis that he had believed her to be 15, but had been advised that given her age, his belief was immaterial. He now appealed saying that the presumption infringed his human rights.
Held: The question was whether the section conflicted with the presumption of innocence. If it did it could be written down to become compliant. It was necessary to retain the distinction between innocence of criminal conduct and innocence of blameworthy conduct.The section did not infinge the defendant’s human rights, and the section did not require to be read down.

Judges:

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers LCJ, Andrew Smith J, Wilkie J

Citations:

[2006] EWCA Crim 821, [2006] 1 WLR 2052, [2007] 1 Lloyds Rep IR 186, [2006] All ER (D) 185, [2006] 1 Lloyds Rep 500, [2006] Crim LR 930

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Sexual Offences Act 2003 5, European Convention on Human Rights 6.2

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Sheldrake v Director of Public Prosecutions; Attorney General’s Reference No 4 of 2002 HL 14-Oct-2004
Appeals were brought complaining as to the apparent reversal of the burden of proof in road traffic cases and in cases under the Terrorism Acts. Was a legal or an evidential burden placed on a defendant?
Held: Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: . .
Cited – Salabiaku v France ECHR 7-Oct-1988
A Zairese national living in Paris, went to the airport to collect, as he said, a parcel of foodstuffs sent from Africa. He could not find this, but was shown a locked trunk, which he was advised to leave alone. He however took possession of it, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Human Rights

Updated: 06 July 2022; Ref: scu.242609