attempts

• attempt- in criminal law, an attempt occurs where a person with the relevant mens rea does an act which is more than merely preparatory to the commission of an offence.
• R V White- cyanide in mothers drink intending to kill her, she died before she could drink it so he was convicted of attempted murder.
• attempt is defined under s1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 which states; ‘if, with intent to commit an offence to which this section applies, a person does an act which is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence, he is guilty of attempting the offence.
• actus reus- a person does an act which is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence.
• men’s rea- with intent to commit that offence
• Attorney Generals Reference (1993)- decided that the defendant need not have performed the last act before the crime proper, nor need he or she have reached the point of no return.
• R V Gullefer- must have gone beyond purely preparatory acts and be embarked on the crime proper.
• acts which were only preparatory- R V Geddes
• Court of Appeal stated 2 questions around attempts:

  • has the accused moved from planning or preparation to execution or implementation?
  • has the accused done an act showing that he was actually trying to commit the full offence?


  .
• R V Tosti- there was an attempt here
• men’s rea of attempt: R V Easom

  the defendant must normally have the same intention as would be required for the full offence.
• men’s rea of attempted murder:

  involves proving a higher level of intention than for the full offence of murder.

  For attempted murder the prosecution must prove an intention to kill, intention for GBH isn’t enough.

  shown in R V Whybrow
• is recklessness enough for men’s rea:

  R V Millard and Vernon.

  it was decided it was not sufficient.
• Impossibility situations:

  intentions to do something that is impossible to commit.

  s1(2) states that a person may be guilty of attempting to commit an offence even though the offence is impossible.
• R V Shivpuri- impossibility