Criminal Law

• Assault is defined by Lord Goff in Collins v Wilcock as ‘an act which causes the V to apprehend immediate, unlawful force’
• Stage 1 of Assault - an act - can be words, gestures or even silence (Ireland)
• Stage 1 Assault side rule - sending letters/emails/text messages (Constanza)
• Stage 2 of Assault side rule - jokes (Logden)
• Stage 2 of Assault - act must cause V to apprehend force (Lamb) - no apprehension, no assault
• Stage 3 of Assault - threat of force must be immediate (Smith v

  of Woking Police) - subjective - did V believe threat was immediate
• Stage 3 of Assault side rule - words may negate (cancel out) an assault (Tuberville v Savage)
• Mens Rea of Assault - intention (Mohan) or subjective recklessness (Cunningham) to cause the V to apprehend immediate, unlawful force - confirmed in Venna
• Battery is defined by Lord Goff in Collins v Wilcock as ‘where the D inflicts unlawful touching on the V’
• Stage 1 of Battery - there must be touching (Lord Goff in Collins v Wilcock) - ‘any touching, however slight, many amount to battery’
• Stage 1 of Battery side rule - touching V’s clothing (Thomas)
• Stage 1 of Battery side rule - indirect touching (Martin)
• Stage 2 of Battery - touching must be unlawful (Wilson v Pringle) - ‘hostile or aggressive’
• Mens Rea of Battery - intention (Mohan) or subjective recklessness (Cunningham) to unlawfully touch the V - confirmed in Venna
• ABH is defined in Section 47 Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 as ‘a common assault occasioning actual bodily harm’
• Stage 1 of ABH - D must commit a common assault - assault or battery
• Stage 2 of ABH - occasioning - means causation
• Stage 3 of ABH - actual bodily harm injuries - Miller states ‘any hurt or injuries calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the V, but it has to be more than trifling’ - Chan Fook states ‘the injury should not be so trivial as to be wholly insignificant’
• Mens Rea for ABH - only need mens rea for assault or battery (Savage)
• Examples of ABH injuries:

  • multiple bruising
  • loss of teeth (only single ones)
  • temporary loss of sensory functioning
  • broken bones (nose, toes, fingers, hair line fractures)
  • minor cuts requiring treatment
  • psychiatric injury (Chan Fook - must be more than human emotion)
  • cutting off V’s hair (Smith)
  • loss of consciousness (T v DPP)
• Causation Issues:

  • V’s own acts/escape attempts (Roberts) - must be reasonable + foreseeable
  • 3rd party acts (Pagett) - D has made contribution
  • bad medical treatment (Cheshire) - original injuries must be operating + substantial cause of result
  • switching off life support (Malcherick + Steele)
  • thin skull rule (Blaue) - ‘you must take V as you find them’
  • V refusing medical treatment (Holland) - no obligation to seek help
• GBH is defined in the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 under either s.20 or s.18

  s.20 - ’where D wounds or inflicts any GBH upon V with the intention or recklessness to cause some harm’

  s.18 - ’D wounds or causes GBH with intention to inflict GBH or with intent to resist arrest’
• Stage 1 of GBH - wound (JCC v Eisenhower) - a cut is a break in both layers of the skin (dermis + epidermis)
• Stage 2 of GBH - inflict GBH injuries (DPP v Smith) - ‘no more or no less than serious injury’
• Stage 2 of GBH side rule - vulnerable victim (Bollom) - when assessing seriousness, take into account V’s age + health
• Stage 2 of GBH side rule - accumulation of injuries (Brown/Stratton)
• Mens Rea of GBH:

  s.20 - intention or recklessness to cause some harm (Mowatt)

  s.18 - intention to cause GBH, or the D has the intention to resist arrest but GBH injuries are caused (Morrison)
• Examples of GBH injuries:

  • serious cuts/wounds
  • broken bones (serious fractures - jaw/rib/leg/arms/compound fractures)
  • injuries requiring lengthy treatment
  • substantial blood loss
  • permanent loss of sensory functioning
  • serious psychological injuries (Ireland + Burstow)
  • biological harm (Dica - HIV)
• Murder is defined as ‘where the D unlawfully kills another human being with intention to kill or cause GBH’
• Actus Reus of Murder - D must be the cause of the AB’s death - factual causation, legal causation + any causation issues
• Mens Rea of Murder - D intended to kill or cause GBH

  • direct intention (Mohan)
  • indirect intention (Woolin) - virtual certainty test - was death or serious injury virtually certain (objective) + did the D realise this (subjective)
• Factual Causation - ‘but for’ test (White) - ‘but for the D’s actions, would the result have happened anyways’
• Legal Causation - D must have made a significant contribution (Kimsey) - ‘more than a slight or trifling link, but they do not have to be the main cause’
• Loss of Control is defined under s.54 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 as having a 3 stage test
• Stage 1 of Loss of Control - D must have a loss of control - s.54(2) states loss of control does not have to be sudden (longer the delay, the less likely to get defence) - Gregson states when assessing whether D has lost their control, you are allowed to take into account their circumstances
• Stage 2 of Loss of Control - s.55 states the loss of control must be due to a qualifying trigger - fear (Pearson) or anger (Hatter) trigger
• Stage 2 of Loss of Control - Fear Trigger (Pearson):

  • D must have a genuine fear, but the violence need not be directed at D
  • subjective test
• Stage 2 of Loss of Control - Anger Trigger (Hatter):

  • stage 1 - things said/done
  • stage 1 side rule - sexual infidelity (Clinton) - must be another provoking factor
  • stage 2 - amounting to circumstances of an extremely grave character
  • stage 3 - caused the D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
• Stage 3 of Loss of Control - s.54(3) asks would a person of the same age/gender, with a normal degree of tolerance have reacted in the same way (Holley)
• Stage 3 of Loss of Control side rule - defence cannot be successful in desire for revenge (Evans)