Offensive Weapons

Question 1

What legislation covers offensive weapons?

Answer 1

Prevention of Crime Act 1953

Question 2

What is an offence weapon?

Answer 2

Prevention of Crime Act 1953, s.1(4)

“ offensive weapon ” means any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him [F9 or by some other person ].]

Question 3

What does section 1(1) of the PCA state about having an Offensive Weapon in a Public Place?

Answer 3

“Any person who without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, the proof whereof shall lie on him, has with him in any public place any offensive weapon shall be guilty of an offence”

Question 4

Sentencing for carrying an offence weapon in a public place

Answer 4

o Triable either way
o Four years’ imprisonment and/or a fine (no more than £100) on indictment
o Six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine (no more than £200) summarily

Question 5

What is meant by lawful authority?

Answer 5

Means those occasions where people may be required to carry weapons as a matter of duty.

Question 6

What is meant by reasonable excuse?

Answer 6

A person may have a reasonable excuse if they are carrying an offensive weapon in a public
place if they fear for their safety. e.g. a women feels that she is about to be assaulted, can’t escape and uses her keys to defend herself. Other reasonable excuses include having an innocent reason, e.g. a chef carrying kitchen knives on their way to work.

Question 7

How does the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 describe a public place?

Answer 7

s. 1(4) also states:

In this section ‘public place’ includes any highway and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise.

Question 8

State and explain the 3 categories that offensive weapons fall into

Answer 8

Made for causing injury (offensive weapons per se);
o Offensive weapons per se are those which have been manufactured for use for causing injury and include truncheons, PR-24 batons and bayonets

Adapted for causing injury; and
o Weapons adapted for causing injury can include virtually anything. Whether something has in fact been so adapted is a question of fact for the court/jury to decide in each case.

Intended by the person who has them, for causing injury
o Weapons intended to be used for causing injury can also include virtually anything.
o Here the intention of the person carrying it is relevant and you must prove an intention to cause injury

Question 9

What is meant by threatening with an Offensive Weapon in public?

Answer 9

Prevention of Crime Act 1953, s.1A(1)

A threat must be intentional and unlawful and create an immediate risk of ‘serous physical harm’ (harm that amounts to grievous bodily harm for the purposes of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.1A(2)).

Question 10

Sentencing for threatening with an Offensive Weapon in public

Answer 10

• Triable either way
• Four years’ imprisonment and/or a fine on indictment
• Six months ‘ imprisonment and/or fine summarily (not exceeding 12 months)

Question 11

What does theCriminal Justice Act 1988, s. 139(1) state in regards to having a Bladed or Pointed Article in Public Place?

Answer 11

• “Subject to subsections (4) and (5) below, any person who has an article to which this section applies with him in a public place shall be guilty of an offence”

This offence applies to any sharply pointed article or article having a blade. Folding pocket-knives are excluded unless the cutting edge of the blade exceeds three inches.

Question 12

Sentencing for having a Bladed or Pointed Article in Public Place

Answer 12

o Triable either way
o Four years’ imprisonment and/or a fine on indictment
o Six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine summarily

Question 13

What does The Criminal Justice Act 1988, s. 139(4) state about defences in regards to offensive weapons?

Answer 13

It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had good reason or lawful authority for having the article with him in a public place.

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (4) above, it shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had the article with him:

(a) for use at work;
(b) for religious reasons; or
(c) as part of any national costume

It is for the defence to prove lawful authority or good reason and forgetting you have the article with you is not a general defence

Question 14

What does the Criminal Justice Act 1988, s. 139 A say in regards to Offences and Powers Relating to Educational Premises?

Answer 14

Prohibits certain weapons on educational premises including bladed or sharply pointed articles and for other offensive weapons.

Question 15

What does the Criminal Justice Act 1988, s. 139 AA(1) say in regards to Threatening with Article with Blade or Point or Offensive Weapon (Includes public place as well as educational premises)?

Answer 15

“A person is guilty of an offence if that person—

(a) has an article to which this section applies with him or her in a public place or on school premises, or further education premises,
(b) unlawfully and intentionally threatens another person (A) with the article, and
(c) does so in such a way that a reasonable person (B) who was exposed to the same threat as A would think that there was an immediate risk of physical harm to B”.

Question 16

Sentencing for Threatening with Article with Blade or Point or Offensive Weapon (Includes public place as well as educational premises)

Answer 16

• Triable either way
• Four years’ imprisonment and/or a fine on indictment
• 12-months’ imprisonment and/or a fine summarily

Question 17

Power of entry for schools under The Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.139B

Answer 17

“A constable may enter school premises and search those premises and any person on those premises for—

(a) any article to which section 139 of this Act applies, or
(b) any offensive weapon within the meaning of section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, if he has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence under section 139A of this Act is being, or has been, committed.

139B(2) If in the course of a search under this section a constable discovers an article or weapon which he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be an article or weapon of a kind described in subsection (1) above, he may seize and retain it.

139B(3) The constable may use reasonable force, if necessary, in the exercise of the power of entry conferred by this section”.

Question 18

What power has Section 53 Offensive Weapons Act 2019 extended?

Answer 18

Extended the power of search to to include search for corrosive substances.

Question 19

What code of practice applies to searches under s.139B of the Criminal Justice Act 1988?

Answer 19

The PACE Code of Practice for the Exercise by Police Officers of Statutory Powers of Stop and Search (Code A)

Question 20

What act allows for a authorised person in a school to search a pupil if they have reasonable grounds for suspecting that a pupil at the school may have a prohibited item?

Answer 20

The Education Act 1996

The Higher Education Act 1992 provides similar powers to search students within the further education sector

Question 21

Which act covers trespassing with Weapon of Offence and what does it state?

Answer 21

The Criminal Law Act 1977, s.8(1) states:
• “A person who is on any premises as a trespasser, after having entered as such, is guilty of an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, he has with him on the premises any weapon of offence”.

Sentencing:
o Triable summarily
o Three months’ imprisonment and/or a fine

Question 22

The Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959, s. 1(1) describes the manufacture and sale of weapons as an offence, what does it say?

State the sentences.

Answer 22

“Any person who manufactures, sells, or hires or offers for sale or hire, or exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lends or gives to any other person …..”
• Triable summarily
• 51 weeks imprisonment and/or a fine

Question 23

The Sale of Knives etc. to Persons under 18 does not apply to what?

Answer 23

Folding pocket knives with a cutting edge not exceeding three inches (7.62cm),
OR
Certain types of razor blade in a cartridge where not more than 2mm of blade is exposed

(Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Exemption) Order 1996 (SI 1996/3064)).

Question 24

What does The Criminal Justice Act 1988, s. 141A state in regards to the sale of knives to under 18s?

Answer 24

“(1) Any person who sells to a person under the age of eighteen years an article to which this section applies shall be guilty of an offence …”

Question 25

What act describes the unlawful marketing of knives and what does it state?

Answer 25

The Knives Act 1997, s. 1

It states:
“A person is guilty of an offence if he markets a knife in a way which—
(a) indicates, or suggests, that it is suitable for combat; or
(b) is otherwise likely to stimulate or encourage violent behaviour involving the use of the knife as a weapon”.

Marketing will include selling, hiring, offering, or exposing for sale or hire and possessing it for those purposes s.1(4).

Question 26

Unlawful marketing of knives sentencing

Answer 26

• Triable either way
• Two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine on indictment
• Six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine summarily

Question 27

What is the act that introduces new legislative measures to control the sale of knives and corrosive substances, and introduces new offences on their possession and use?

Answer 27

Offensive Weapons Act 2019

Question 28

What else does the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 create/introduce?

Answer 28

creates a
new criminal offence of selling a corrosive product to a person under the age of 18 and for possessing a corrosive substance in a public place etc.

Also includes Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs)

Question 29

What is a Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs) and what does it entail?

Answer 29

KCPOs intervene with those individuals suspected of carrying knives routinely and to manage habitual knife carriers. The intention is that KCPOs will be preventative rather than punitive
o Youngsters could face conditions such as curfews and restrictions on their use of social media under the orders.
o KCPOs would be in place for a maximum of two years and be reviewed by the courts after 12 months, with orders issued to under-18s to be reviewed more regularly.
o Breaching the order will be a criminal offence punishable by a maximum prison sentence of two years, if convicted.

Question 30

What act defines threatening of an offensive weapon in a ‘Private place’, what does it entail and what are the charges?

Answer 30

Offensive Weapons Act 2019, s52(1) states:
A person (“A”) commits an offence if—
(a) while A is in a private place, A unlawfully and intentionally threatens another person (B) with an article or substance to which this subsection applies, and
(b) A does so in such a way that there is an immediate risk of serious physical harm to B.

• Triable either way
• Four years’ imprisonment and/or a fine on indictment
• 12-months’ imprisonment and/or a fine summarily