What section of which act defined the laws on “attempts” ?
s.1(1) Criminal Attempts Act (1981)
What is the definition of an attempt ?
Which case comes under this area ?
“If, with intent to commit an offence to which this section applies, a person does an act which is more than merely preparatory towards the commission of an offence, he is guilty of attempting to commit the offence”
Rv White (Attempted murder)
What are the two actus reus elements for an attempt ?
Which cases come under these areas ?
-An act (Rv Nevard)
-Which is more than merely preparatory (Rv Gullefer)
What must be proven, to establish an act, for attempts ?
-Must be an act, attempts cannot be by omission
-The ‘act’ or crime must be indictable or triable-either-way.
What must be proven, to establish that an act, is ‘more than merely preparatory’ ?
-‘Embarking on the crime proper’ (Rv Gullefer)
-Being in the executory phase/trying to commit the crime (Rv Geddes)
-‘Has the accused moved from ‘planning or preparation to execution or implementation’?’
-‘Had the accused done an act showing that he was actually ‘trying to commit the full offence’, or had he only got as far as getting ready, or putting himself in a position or equipping himself, to do so?
What is an example of a case, where the defendant, had gone beyond mere preparation ?
What happened in this case ?
Rv Jones
-After finding out his partner was having an affair with another man, the D
bought a shotgun, shortened the barrel and got into the V’s car wearing a
crash helmet and pointed the gun at her.
-D was charged with attempted murder as his acts were beyond merely preparatory. The buying and shortening of the gun were only preparatory but when he entered the car and pointed the gun, he had gone beyond it.
What is an example of a case, where the defendant hadnt gone beyond mere preparation ?
What happened in this case ?
Rv Cambell
-The D was in the street outside a post office. He had an imitation gun, sunglasses and a threatening note in his pocket.
-His conviction for attempted robbery was quashed as there was no evidence of an act that had gone beyond more than merely preparatory. Too many acts remained undone.
What is the mens rea for attempts ?
Which cases come under this area ?
-‘With intent to commit an offence to which this section applies’.
-‘Recklessness will not suffice, even when the mens rea of the full offence can be satisfied by recklessness’ (R v Millard and Vernon).
-For attempted murder, there must be an intention to kill. An
intention to cause serious harm is not enough. (Rv Whybrow)
Which additional areas, must be examined under mens rea ?
-Conditional intent, will suffice (Attorney General’s Reference No1/No2) (1979)
-Withdrawal is not a defence (R v Taylor)
-Impossibility
Which section, is the law on imposssibility defined ?
s.1(2) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981
What is the ruling for impossibility ?
-Impossibility is no defence to the crime of attempt and even where the offence is impossible to carry out, the accused will still be liable for an attempt if he has gone beyond the point of preparation.
-Physical impossibility (Rv Taaffe)
-Legal impossibility (Rv Shivpuri)
