Attempted Crimes Flashcards
What are the 3 types of attempts
Thwarted, failed and impossible
What is an attempted crime
Where a person tried to commit a crime but for some reason, fails to complete it
What act is attempted crimes defined in
S.1(1) criminal attempts act 1981
What is attempt defined as
‘If with intent to commit an offence a person does something more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence, he is guilty of trying to commit the offence’
What is the AR for an attempted crime
D went beyond merely preparatory
What is the MR for an attempted crime
Intention for the crime
What were the 2 tests for attempted crimes before it was defined
1) last act test- Eagleton (1855)- has the accused taken the last step towards the commission of the crime
2) rubicon- stonehouse (1978)- D must have crossed the rubicon, burnt his boats or reached the point of no return
These are now irrelevant in court
Gullefer (1990)
D ran onto a dog track to disrupt race but this failed. Was charged with attempted theft.
COA quashed conviction bc he hadn’t gone beyond merely preparatory. An attempt begins when the merely preparatory act has come to an end and d has embarked upon the crime proper
Geddes (1996)
D was found by teacher in school toilets he didn’t have permission to be in. He ran off. They found rope, masking tape and a large kitchen knife. Convicted of attempted false imprisonment.
COA quashed conviction. He hadn’t gone beyond merely preparatory and hadn’t moved from planning to execution
What are the 2 quark one that should be asked when considering wether an offence was an attempted one or not
1) had D moved from planning or prep to execution or implementation
2) had D done something showing he was trying to commit the full offence or had D only got as far as getting ready or putting himself into a position to do so
Why has the decision in Geddes been criticised
COA said D had to make contact with child to go beyond merely preparatory
What did D try to argue in Jones 1990
That he was going to kill himself not V
What did the COA say in Jones (1990)
Buying, loading and disguising were preparatory. However, when he got in V’s car that’s when he went beyond it
