PSY202- Criminal - Seminar 11 - Attempts - Jack by Claire Turner

claire43 — 2023-12-07 22:25:57 UTC

Jack is fed up of his brother, Alfie, ‘hogging’ their shared games console. Jack decides to
break Alfie’s legs. Jack purchases a gun from James, a local criminal. He then sits upstairs
inside their home, with the gun, waiting for Alfie to come home from work.
Meanwhile, Alfie has a fight with his friend Phil at the pub during his lunch break. He
punches Phil in the face, trying to give him a nasty black eye. Luckily, whilst the punch does
make contact with his face, Phil manages to lean back slightly, avoiding the worst of the
blow and suffers only momentary pain (without injury). Alfie and Phil settle their differences
and are best friends again by the end of the lunch break.
When Alfie arrives home later, Jack hears Alfie opening the front door downstairs. Jack gets
up, removes the safety catch from the gun and heads towards the stairs in order to shoot
Alfie. However, when Jack sees Alfie standing there, looking so happy to see him, Jack
cannot go through with it. He puts the gun back in his pocket and later disposes of it in the
river. Unbeknownst to Jack, James was a fraudster and had sold Jack a broken gun. Even if
Jack had tried to shoot it, the gun would have jammed and not fired anyway.
James is eventually arrested in another case for selling firearms illegally, and evidence on
his phone lead the police to Jack. Jack is arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Discuss whether Alfie is liable for attempted actual bodily harm.
Discuss whether Jack is liable or attempted murder.

Link to quiz

claire43 — 2024-12-05 14:43:02 UTC

Jack - bought gun, waits upstairs for his brother to arrive home.

claire43 — 2024-12-10 17:27:28 UTC

Mere preparatory - s1 Criminal Attempts Act, Eagleton; Stonehouse.

Lying in wait is not an attempt? - Geddes

Fight pub - Alfie - punched Phil intending to give him a 'nasty black eye'. Only suffered, no harm, just pain momentarily

claire43 — 2024-12-10 17:30:31 UTC

Attempted ABH

Intention - harm should be more than transient/trifling (Chan Fook).

Crime Proper - Gullefer.

More than preparatory - carried last act (Eagleton)

Jack on hearing Alfie removes safety catch and walks towards the stairs

claire43 — 2024-12-10 17:42:13 UTC

Gun - more than merely preparatory?

Jones - Prosecution - safety catch is off, in Jones remained on. Jones he was in the car and shouted at him. Whereas in the instant case they aren't proximity and he hasn't discussed his intention.

Proximity - R v MS.

Stevens - Defence - he didn't point the gun at his wife. Similarly in the instant case he put the gun away. Both cases involve the catch being removed from the gun.

Impossibility is not a defence - Shivpuri.

MR - intention to kill. Intention to break his legs not sufficient as is gbh (Whybrow)

Link to Prezi

claire43 — 2024-12-10 17:44:46 UTC