Possessing an Article with Intent to Cause Criminal Damage Flashcards
Possessing an Article with Intent to Cause Criminal Damage is an offence covered where?
s 3 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971.
s 3 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971
A person who has anything in his custody or under his control…
- Have to pick it up!
…intending without lawful excuse…
- Can be in future/ doesn’t need to be immediate.
…to use it or cause or permit another to use it—
(a) to destroy or damage any property belonging to some other person; or
(b) to destroy or damage his own or the user’s property in a way which he knows is likely to endanger the life of some other person;
…shall be guilty of an offence.
s 3 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971
Possessing an Article with Intent to Cause Criminal Damage Penalties
Triable either way.
Penalty is 6 months imprisonment and/ or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum if tried summarily.
10 years on indictment.
A power to search for articles made or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with an offence under s 1 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 is provided under where?
s 1(2)(a) of the PACE Act 1984.
Any person/ vehicle can be searched and detained.
The Law Commission makes clear that
“the essential feature of the proposed offence is to be found, not so much in the nature of the thing, as in the intention with which it is held”.
A man walks determinedly towards a pile of bricks, he bends down to pick one up when you (as a police officer) stop him. Is the suspect guilty of possessing an article with intent to cause criminal damage?
No