Attempts

• Attempt


  Where a person tries to commit an offence but, for some reason fails to complete it
• 'Attempt' is defined in by s1(1) 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 to commit the offence."
• Attempts


  • Designed to help keep society safe- to prevent offenders from trying to commit crime
• Attempted murder


  • D fires a gun at V, intending to kill V. Just as D pulls the trigger, V stoops to tie his shoelace. The bullet misses V and goes over his head.
• D intended to kill V but has not succeeded, so cannot be charged with murder as V is still alive. However, it is obvious that D ought to be criminally liable for some offence and would be ridiculous if D were allowed to go free without charge. In this type of situation D can be charged with attempted murder.
• Previous common law tests now irrelevant and the important thing is whether D has done an act which is 'more than merely preparatory.'
• More than merely preparatory


  The act D commits has to be more than merely preparation for the main crime. Some acts are are more obviously mere preparation, but others are more difficult to categorise.
• Attempted robbery


  • Person decides to rob a bank. He buys a shot gun and converts it into a sawn-off shotgun! Person then drives around the area looking for possible escape routes. On the day of the robbery person steals a car and drives to the bank. Person stands on the pavement outside the bank, carrying the shotgun in a bag. Person walks into the bank.
• Attempted rape


  • D dragged a girl up some steps to a shed. He lowered his trousers and interfered with her private parts. His penis remained flaccid and he argued he could therefore not have attempted rape. Held - conviction upheld; attempting rape can be done before the attempt at physical penetration.
• However, had he been stopped at dragging the girl up the stairs to the shed, before he lowered his trousers this would likely be deemed as mere preparation.
• Attempted theft


  • D jumped onto a race track in order to have the race declared void and so enable him to reclaim money he had bet on the race when he discovered the dog he bet on would lose. Conviction for attempting to steal quashed - his action was merely preparatory to committing the offence. D must have gone beyond purely preparatory acts and 'embarked on the crime proper.' The moment this occurs will depend on the facts in any particular case.
• Attempted false imprisonment


  • D was found in the boys' toilet block in a school, in possession of a large kitchen knife, some rope and masking tape. He had no right to be in the school. He had not contacted any of the pupils. His conviction for attempted false imprisonment was quashed.
• Issue He had entered the school with all the right equipment for falsely imprisoning a pupil. The next step would have been for him to approach a pupil. Is it sensible for the law to wait until he does approach a pupil if the law is meant to protect? At what point should he have been charged? Justify?
• Attempted robbery


  • D, who had an imitation gun, sunglasses and a threatening note in his pocket, was in the street outside a post office. His conviction for attempting robbery was quashed.
• Next step for D would be to enter the post office. Is it safe to wait for D to enter the post office if attempts is to be effective in protecting people from the main offence? If the gun had been real then customers and staff in the PO would have been at risk.
• D must normally have the same intention as they would have for the full offence. If prosecution cannot prove that D had that intention then D is not guilty of the attempt
• Attempted theft


  • D picked up a woman's handbag in a cinema, rummaged through it, then put it back on the floor without removing anything from it. His conviction for theft of the bag and its contents was quashed. COA also refused to substitute a conviction for attempted theft of the bag and specific contents (including a purse and a pen), as there was no evidence that D intended to steal the items.
• For attempted murder the prosecution must prove an intention to kill which is higher than the intention for the full offence of murder which is either the intention to kill or cause GBH. For an attempt the intention to cause GBH is not enough
• Attempted murder


  • D wired up his wife's bath and caused her to have an electric shock. He was convicted of attempted murder.
• Impossibility


  In some situations people may intend to commit an offence and may do everything they can to commit it, but in fact the offence is impossible to commit
• Attempted murder


  • D goes to V's room and stabs V as they lay in their bed. V had died in the bed a few hours before D stabbed them and so D had merely stabbed a dead body. Murdering V is physically impossible so D cannot be guilty of murder, but can they be guilty of attempting to murder V?
• Prior to 1981 law - where a crime was legally or physically impossible to commit, then D could not be guilty of attempting to commit it
• However, Criminal Attempts Act 1981 (s1(2)) makes D's guilty of an attempt even though the full offence was impossible.