The defendants challenged convictions for assaulting police officers acting in the course of their duty. They said the officers were not so acting. The first defendant had been stopped in a vehicle which had left the scene of an accident. At the time, someone else was driving. The police officer suspected he had been drinking and asked to speak to the man, who went into his house swearing. When the officer went into the house he was assaulted by the former driver and by another man in the house. Other officers were called and CS spray was used. The magistrates convicted on the basis that the officer had not been given sufficient time to leave before being assaulted.
Held: The appeals failed. The officers had been explicitly asked to leave, but on the evidence, the justices were entitled to conclude that they had not been given a reasonable opportunity to leave. The officer was still acting in the course of his duty when assaulted. That being the case, the other officers were entitled with or without permission to enter on the land to prevent further crimes.
Judges:
Mr Justice Crane
Citations:
[2005] EWHC 2922 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Police Act 1996 89(1), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 17
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Davis v Lisle CA 1936
Two police officers, one in plain clothes and the other in uniform, passed by a lorry causing an obstruction in the highway outside a garage. Two men were repairing it. Some minutes later they returned and saw that the lorry had been moved into the . .
Cited – Lambert v Roberts QBD 1981
Police officers came into a garden to obtain a breath test. There had been repeated statements by the owner of the premises that the officers, who were on the driveway of his house, were on private property and that he believed the police had no . .
Cited – Robson v Hallett CA 1967
A police officer had been impliedly invited onto land, and was asked to leave, but was then assaulted before he had chance to leave.
Held: The conviction was upheld.
There is an implied licence available to members of the public on . .
Cited – Snook v Mannion QBD 1982
The police officer refused to leave premises after being told to ‘Fuck off’.
Held: Whether such words amounted to a withdrawal of the officer’s licence to be on the land was a question of fact in the circumstances. . .
Cited – Gilham v Breidenbach QBD 1982
Whether telling a police offer to ‘Fuck off’ was a withdrawal of the officer’s implied licence to be on private land.
Held: The meaning to be inferred from such words was to be worked out in the context of the particular case. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.236632