Wood v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 14 May 2008

The defendant challenged his conviction for obstructing a police officer and threatening behaviour. The officer had taken hold of him to restrain him, not intending to arrest him, but only to establish whether he was a person they were looking for. He then struggled to escape and was arrested.
Held: The appeal succeeded. At the time when he stopped the appellant, the officer had no power of arrest.

Judges:

Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Underhill

Citations:

[2008] EWHC 1056 (Admin), Times 14-May-2008

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Public Order Act 1986 4, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 24

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedLudlow and Others v Burgess 1972
A police officer has no more right to lay hands on someone than any other member of the community. The person so restrained is entitled to use reasonable force to free himself. . .
CitedKenlin v Gardner QBD 1967
Two school boys, visiting premises for a lawful purpose, aroused suspicion of police officers on duty in plain clothes. One officer produced his warrant card, stated that they were police officers and asked why they were calling at the houses. The . .

Cited by:

CitedSkelton, Regina (on The Application of) v Winchester Crown Court Admn 5-Dec-2017
The Court was asked whether the Crown Court could properly refuse to state a case for the opinion of the divisional court, having convicted a defendant, on her appeal from the magistrates’ court, of an offence of common assault. She was evicted from . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.267982