self defence

• What Act is self defence under?

  s76 Criminal Justice & Immigration Act 2008.
• What is self defence


  Right to defend yourself and right to use force in prevention of crime
• What must the force used be

  reasonable and what they honestly thought was necessary
• What did the case of Gladstone Williams say?


  if D has a ’genuine mistaken belief’ reasonably or not the defence still stands.
• Is a drunken mistake sufficient?

  No. Case of ‘O’Grady’
• The case of R V Hussain & another says what?

  Force used after the danger isn’t sufficien.
• What does the Bird case say?

  There is no duty to retreat, can make a pre emptive strike.
• Is a full defence and leads to a non guilty verdict
• R V Rashford- the defendant as the aggressor. May use force is victim's response is wholly disproportionate and seriously threatens the defendant provided that this wasnt their aim all along.
• basic idea;

  • common law defence as amended by the Crimina Justice and Immigration Act 2008 and,
  • the statutory defence in s3(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 of self defence in prevention of a crime
• is the defendant suffering from delusions: R V Seun Oye

  defendants genuine belief can include delusions resulting from a psychiatric condition or another condition such as PTSD.
• s76(6a) says there is no duty to retreat.
• s76(6)- was the force used proportionate.

  Objective test and considers a balance between risk of harm to the defendant and risk of harm to the victim.
• A householder case can use disproportionate force to protect himself and others in the house but not grossly disproportionate force.

  to be a householder case;

  • force must be used by D while in or partly in a building
  • D must not be a trespasser
  • D mustve believed the victim to be a trespasser
• householder cases:

  • R V Clegg
  • R V Martin
• the statutory defence: s3(1) Criminal Law Act 1967

  It is a subjective test as to whether the defendant believed that force was necessary in the prevention of crime or in assisting the lawful arrest. Reasonable force is an objective test.