Criminal Damage

Question 1

Where is the basic offence for criminal damage found?

Answer 1

Section 1(1) Criminal Damage Act 1971

Question 2

What is the actus reus?

Answer 2

Damage to property belonging to another.

Question 3

What is the mens rea?

Answer 3

Intention or recklessness as to the damage or destruction of property belonging to another without lawful excuse.

Question 4

Which case establishes damage need not be permanent?

Answer 4

Hardman v Chief Constable of Avon

Question 5

What was held to be criminal damage in Roe v Kingerlee?

Answer 5

Mud spread on police cell walls

Question 6

What was not criminal damage in A (a juvenile) v R?

Answer 6

Spitting on a policeman’s coat

Question 7

In which case did the court refuse to lay down a general rule defining criminal damage?

Answer 7

Samuels v Stubbs

Question 8

Which cases established and confirmed that criminal damage is a matter of fact and degree to be determined by justices applying common-sense?

Answer 8

Established in Roe v Kingerlee. Confirmed in Morphitis v Salmon.

Question 9

In which case did the court hold that criminal damage includes ‘not only permanent of temporary physical harm but also permanent or temporary impairment of value or usefulness’?

Answer 9

Morphitis v Salmon

Question 10

Which section of the statute defines property?

Answer 10

s10(1) Criminal Damage Act 1971

Question 11

How does the Criminal Damage Act define property?

Answer 11

Tangible items, real or personal, including money and wild creatures which have been tamed (s10(1)(a)).

Question 12

What is not property according s10(1)(b)?

Answer 12

Mushrooms, flowers, fruit or foliage growing wild on any land.

Question 13

According to R v Whitely what else is not property?

Answer 13

Information

Question 14

Which section of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 defines ‘belonging to another’?

Answer 14

s10(2)-(4)

Question 15

What is meant by ‘belonging to another’?

Answer 15

s10(2)(a) having custody or control, (b) having proprietary right or interest (not equitable interest arising from agreement to transfer or grant), (c) having a charge on it.
s10(3) persons who have a right to enforce a trust.
s10(4) corporate property belongs to the corporation.

Question 16

Why did D have his conviction quashed in R v Smith?

Answer 16

S had smashed wall panels, floorboards and roofing which he had installed in to his rented accommodation. He was held to have honestly mistaken the property for his own.

Question 17

Which sections of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 deal with ‘without lawful excuse’?

Answer 17

s5(2)-(3)

Question 18

When does s5(2)(a) CDA 1971 operate?

Answer 18

When D believes the owner would have consented to the damage.

Question 19

How does s5(3) qualify s5(2)(a)?

Answer 19

s5(3) says D’s belief that the owner would have consented need not be reasonable as long as it is honestly held.

Question 20

Is motive relevant when considering criminal damage which D believed the owner was consented to? Give an authority.

Answer 20

No. In R v Denton, D, an employee, set fire to a factory after the owner suggested a fire might improve the business.

Question 21

What happened in Jaggard v Dickinson?

Answer 21

D broke a window of a neighbour’s house after a returning from a drunken night out. She thought that the house belonged to her friend. She was allowed the defence in s5(2)(a). Despite her intoxication she held the belief honestly (s5(3)).

Question 22

How did the defendant justify his actions in Blake v DPP? How did the court respond?

Answer 22

D, a vicar, defended writing scripture in marker pen on the Houses of Parliament by arguing that God consented. The court held that God-given consent was not a lawful excuse despite however powerful, genuine and honestly held that belief was held.

Question 23

When does s5(2)(b) operate?

Answer 23

When D acts to protect their own or another’s property.

Question 24

How did the s5(2)(b) defence fail in R v Baker and Wilkins?

Answer 24

The defence only relates to the protection of property. A mother kicked in a door to rescue her child from a perceived threat by her estranged husband. The court held that the child did not constitute property.

Question 25

What three requirements must D meet to use the defence in s5(2)(b)?

Answer 25

1. D must believe the property was in immediate need of protection;
2. D must believe that the means of protection adopted are reasonable.
3. The damage caused must be objectively capable of protecting the property ie more than intention to protect is required.

Question 26

Why did the s5(2)(b) defence fail in Johnson v DPP? What was J’s argument?

Answer 26

The court did not believe there was an immediate need of protection. J, a squatter, had damaged a door while attempting to fit locks in the house. He argued he was attempting to protect the property from theft that was common in the area.

Question 27

Which of the three requirements needed to use the s5(2)(b) defence was added in by the courts? What was the case?

Answer 27

The third limb - the damage caused must be objectively capable of protecting the property (R v Hunt)

Question 28

What happened in R v Hunt?

Answer 28

H started a fire in a bedroom in a deserted part of a block of flats and pressed the fire alarm which did not work. He then called the fire brigade. He wanted to demonstrate the inadequacy of the fire alarm.

Question 29

Did Hunt successfully defend himself?

Answer 29

No, his actions were held to not be objectively capable of protecting the property from damage seeing as he actually caused damage.

Question 30

Which case confirmed the objective test for s5(2)(b) developed in R v Hunt?

Answer 30

R v Hill and Hall

Question 31

What were the facts in R v Hill and Hall?

Answer 31

A nuclear protester was arrested outside a nuclear submarine base in possession of a hacksaw which she intended to use to cut through the wire.

Question 32

What was the protester’s defence in R v Hill and Hall?

Answer 32

Her actions were to persuade the Americans to leave the base to reduce the threat of nuclear strike against her property.

Question 33

Why did the defence fail in R v Hill and Hall?

Answer 33

Cutting the wire at a nuclear submarine base was considered too remote from objective action capable of protecting her property.

Question 34

What criticism might we have of the objective test bestowed on s5(2)(b)?

Answer 34

The language used in s5(2) and s5(3) CDA suggests a subjective test only

Question 35

What may have been a more suitable ground for deciding R v Hill and Hall?

Answer 35

Nuclear threat was not imminent.

Question 36

Where do we find aggravated criminal damage in CDA 1971?

Answer 36

s1(2)

Question 37

Basic criminal damage and aggravated criminal damage are very similar but what three differences are there?

Answer 37

1. D may commit aggravated criminal damage against their own property;
2. Defences in s5(2) do not apply;
3. There must be intention or recklessness to endanger life.

Question 38

Which case demonstrates that D need not actually endanger life to be guilty of aggravated criminal damage?

Answer 38

R v Sangha

Question 39

What two cases demonstrate that the endangerment of life must arise from the damaged property?

Answer 39

R v Steer and R v Webster

Question 40

Why was Steer not guilty of aggravated criminal damage?

Answer 40

The bullets he fired themselves endangered the victims’ lives, not the property damage which resulted from him shooting through the window.

Question 41

How were the defendants in R v Webster held to be guilty of aggravated criminal damage?

Answer 41

They were held to have been reckless by pushing a coping stone from a bridge on to a train. Section 1(2) would bite if the defendants intended to cause damage by the coping stone itself but by the damage it caused to the train which then may have endangered lives.

Question 42

Which case tells us that damage caused by fired which endangers life will always be aggravated criminal damage?

Answer 42

R v Steer

Question 43

Where do we find the offence of arson?

Answer 43

s1(3) CDA 1971

Question 44

What difference is there between arson and criminal damage?

Answer 44

None except the damage is caused by fire.

Question 45

How must a charge be brought under arson?

Answer 45

s1(3) must be brought in conjunction with s1(1) or s1(2).

Question 46

What does s2 CDA 1971 provide?

Answer 46

An offence for threats to destroy or damage property.

Question 47

What does s3 CDA 1971 provide?

Answer 47

The offence for possession with intent to destroy or damage property.