Attempts

• Introduction

  Section 1 (1) Criminal Attempts Act 1981 - Person guilty of attempt if they do an act which is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence with the intention of committing an offence.

  Section 1 (4) adds the offence is limited to indictable and triable either way offences

  • Attempt cannot be by an omission, positive act required
  • Indictable - are the most serious offences which only the crown court can hear
  • Triable either way - mid range offences that can go to magistrates or crown depending on the severity
• Stage 1 ‘More than merely preparatory’

  In White he tried to murder his mother by poison, but she died before she drank it.

  ‘If, with intent to commit an offence...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’

  Geddes:

  • Has the accused moved from planning to execution or?
  • Has the accused done act showing that he was actually trying to commit the offence?

  “crossed the threshold between preparation and embarkment”
• Stage 2 Special rules on attempt - impossibility

  S.1(2) Criminal Attempts Act 1981 determined that a D could be guilty even if the full offence was impossible.

  ‘A person may be guilty of attempting to commit an offence… even though the facts are such that the commission of the offence is impossible’.

  • Shivpuri it was said that the offence would be committed if “the facts were as you believed them to be, you would have gone on to commit the full offence”.
• Mens Rea for attempt

  The D must intend to commit the AR of the full offence

  • Recklessness is not sufficient for an attempt, only direct or oblique intent

  AG’s Ref (Nos 1 and 2 of 1979) determined that conditional intent is sufficient for an attempted theft.

  Attempted murder requires an intention to kill

  Attempted GBH would be prosecuted under S20

  Whybrow; There is a higher level mens rea for attempted than there is for murder