1. Criminal Justice process- PACE ARRESTS Criminal Justice process- PACE ARRESTS

2. Powers to Arrest What is being arrested? Spicer v Holt (1977) as per Lord Dilhorne “Whether or not a person has been arrested depends not upon the legality of the arrest, but on whether he has been deprived of his liberty to go where he pleases” So a person “detained” by police against his will is arrested.

3. Powers to Arrest What are lawful arrests ? 1. Arrests under warrant 2. Arrests without warrant (at common law) 3. Arrests without warrant (under statute)

4. Arrest under warrant The police lay a written information on oath before a magistrate that a person ‘has’ or is suspected of having committed an offence. S 1 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 but, warrants should not be issued unless the offence in question is indictable or is punishable with imprisonment. The Criminal Justice Act (1967)

5. Common law arrests The only power that exists in common law for arrests is where a : breach of peace has been committed and there are reasonable grounds for believing that it will be continued or renewed or where a breach of peace is reasonably apprehended.

6. Common law arrests What is a breach of peace ? R v Howell (1981) Facts : The D was arrested after being involved in a disturbance at a street party in the early hours of the morning. Held : whenever harm is actually done or is likely to be done to a person..or a person is in fear of being so harmed through an assault, an affray, a riot, unlawful assembly or other disturbance’…then there is a breach of peace

7. Common law arrests What is a breach of peace ? McConnell v Chief Constable of Manchester (1990) Held : At common law, a police officer may arrest a person for conduct which he genuinely suspects might be likely to cause a breach of peace, even on private premises where no member of the public is present.

8. Statutory arrest S 24 PACE 1984 The right to arrest is governed by S24. There are differences in the power of arrest given to private citizens and the police.

9. Statutory arrest S24 (4) PACE - power to arrest by anyone S24 subsection (4) : in the act of committing Any person may arrest without warrant: a) anyone who is in the act of committing an arrestable offence b) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be committing such an offence

10. Statutory arrest What is an arrestable offence? 1) that has its sentence fixed by law e.g. life imprisonment for murder 2) any offence for which one would be liable to 5 years imprisonment or more. 3) any offences listed in s24(2) of PACE a) official secrets act b) indecent assault on women c) taking a motor vehicle without authority d) going equipped for stealing

11. Statutory arrest S 24 (5) - power to arrest by anyone S24 subsection (5) : has committed Where an arrestable offence has been committed, any person may arrest without warrant : a) anyone who is guilty of the offence b) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be guilty of the offence

12. Statutory arrest S 24 (6) - power to arrest by constable (6) : Where a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an arrestable offence has been committed, he may arrest without warrant anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be guilty of the offence.

13. Statutory arrest S 24 (7) - power to arrest by constable (7) : Constable may arrest without a warrant : a) anyone who is about to commit an arrestable offence b) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be about to commit an arrestable offence

14. Statutory arrest Note that a police officer can arrest on reasonable grounds of suspicion that an arrestable offence has been committed. In other words he is effectively protected from a civil action if he makes an arrest and an offence in fact has not been committed.

15. Statutory arrest What is reasonable suspicion? The key requirement is based on the information available to the arresting officer at the time that he/she makes the arrest Redmond-Bate v DPP (1999)

16. Statutory arrest A Police officer is given additional powers under S25 PACE : S25(1) states : Where a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence which is not an arrestable offence has been committed or attempted, or is being committed or attempted, he may arrest the relevant person if it appears to him that service of a summons is impracticable or inappropriate because any of the general arrest conditions is satisfied.

17. Statutory arrest S25(3) defines what the general arrest conditions are : They are that the officer does not know and cannot find out the suspect’s name and address (or he has reasonable grounds to think that he has been given a false name or address); or he has reasonable grounds for believing that an arrest is necessary to prevent someone causing physical harm to himself or someone else; or loss of or damage to property; or an offence against public decency; or an obstruction of the highway.

18. Statutory arrest G v DPP (1989) Facts : The appellant (G) with other juveniles, including a co-accused went to a police station to complain about being ejected from a public service. On being asked their names and addresses, the appellant refused. Some of the others apparently gave false addresses. Gill and the others became threatening and abusive. Gill was arrested for ‘disorderly behaviour in a police station’.

19. Statutory arrest G v DPP (1989) Held : The Divisional court held that the offence of disorderly behaviour in a police station was not an arrestable offence and S25(1) could only be used if s25(3) the general arrest conditions requirements was satisfied. In this case, the general arrest condition was not satisfied, as the youths had not committed an offence when questioned about the address.

20. Statutory arrest Summary : S24(4) : offence in the act of being committed - anyone can arrest S24(5) : offence has been committed - anyone can arrest S24(6) : reasonable grounds for suspecting that offence has been committed - Police officer may arrest S24(7): Offence about to be committed - Police officer may arrest S25(1): service of summons impracticable - Police officer may arrest

21. Statutory arrest Walters v WH Smith & Son Ltd (1914) CA Facts : The defendants had reasonably suspected that Walters had stolen books from a station book stall. At his trial, Walters was acquitted as the jury believed that Walters had intentions to pay for the books. Walters sued WH smith for false imprisonment. The CA held that to justify an arrest by a private individual, he had to show not only reasonable suspicion but also that the offence in fact had been committed. Held : WH smith had failed to make a proper arrest.

22. Statutory arrest The old common law distinction of arrest after commission of offence for private individuals and police is adopted in S24(4) of PACE. Police officers only need to show that there was reasonable grounds for suspecting that an arrestable offence had been committed :24(6) Private individuals can only justify their arrest if an offence has been committed S24(5)

23. Statutory arrest R v Self (1992) Facts : The Defendant was seen by a store detective in Woolsworths to pick up a bar of chocolate and leave the store without paying. The detective followed him out of the street and with the assistance of a member of the public she arrested the suspect under S24(5) of PACE1984. Held : The Defendant was acquitted of theft. The court found that an arrest by a citizen is only possible when the offence in fact was committed, and as the jury decided the offence was not committed the arrest was an illegal arrest.

24. Statutory arrest What is “reasonable grounds for suspecting”? Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey (1988) Facts : Police detectives reasonably concluded that the burglary of a company’s premises was an ‘inside job’. The MD had told them that they had recently dismissed someone(the plaintiff), although the MD did not think that it would be her. The police arrested her under S24(6), brought her to the station and later released her without charge. Held : CA : LJ Purchas said that the test for ‘reasonable cause’ must be objective. The office had reasonable grounds to believe that she had committed the offence..ie. Suspect offence committed.

25. Statutory arrest LJ Woolf said that there were three things to consider in cases where an arrest is alleged to be unlawful. 1) Did the arresting officer suspect that the person who was arrested had committed the offence. 2) Was there reasonable proof of that suspicion? 3) Did the office have a discretion to arrest and the question then was whether he had exercised his discretion properly. (based on Wednesbury principles) see Associated Provincial Picture v Wednesbury Corp(1948)

26. Statutory arrest The Wednesbury principles were laid down by Lord Greene MR in the case of Associated Provincial Picture House v Wednesbury Corpn (1948) “… a person entrusted with a discretion must, so to speak, direct himself properly in the law. He must call his own attention to matters which he is bound to consider. He must exclude from his consideration matters, which are irrelevant to what he has to consider. If he does not obey those rules, he may be truly said and often said to be acting unreasonably.”

27. Statutory arrest Holgate - Mohamed v Duke (1984) Facts : The police arrested a former lodger for theft of jewellery from a house where she had lived in order to question her at the police station. Held : Where a police officer reasonably suspects an individual of having committed an arrestable offence he may arrest that person with a view to questioning her at the police station. His decision can only be questioned if he acted improperly by taking something irrelevant into account.

28. Statutory arrest Detention short of arrest “helping police with their inquiries” R v Lemsatef (1977) as per Lawton LJ “ It must be clearly understood that neither customs officers nor police officers have any right to detain somebody for the purposes of getting them to help with their inquiries.”