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Criminal Law Past Paper Qs by topic
Criminal law (LA1010)
University of London
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1. Defences
2016A Question 5, 2016B Question 5
What, if any, DEFENCES are available to Sim, Rita, David and Ben to criminal charges in the following THREE situations:
(a) Sim is driving along a motorway in his car. He notices a lorry is driving dangerously close behind. Sim breaks the speed limit to avoid a possible crash.
(b) Rita is a diabetic. One morning, on the way to work, she is raped by John. Despite being traumatised by the rape she makes her way to work. A little later, while sitting at her desk, she succumbs to hyperglycaemia, having forgotten to take her insulin due to the trauma of the rape. She becomes very confused. Moeen, a male colleague, notices that Rita is looking unwell. He goes over to her, puts his hand on her shoulder and asks her if she is all right. Rita, in her confusion, thinks Moeen intends to rape her and so punches him in the groin.
(c) David sees Ben, a work colleague, bullying Julio. He approaches Ben and tells him ‘to pick on somebody your own size’. They agree to ‘settle things’ in the boxing ring in the work’s gym. They fight together one evening and each suffers cuts and bruises.
2018A Question 3
Jaco and Lala go to the local bar on New Year’s Eve. The bar is full of people. Unbeknown to Frank, the bar manager, Xavier puts a very potent hallucinogenic drug into his tea. Frank drinks some of this tea. A member of the bar staff, Alexia, who knows that the drug is in the tea, also drinks some.
As Jaco is ordering drinks at the bar he sees two men, Ben and Chris, looking in their direction. He hears Ben say, ‘I think that woman (Lala) fancies me.’ This makes Jaco angry and so he rushes over to Ben to protest, knocking Ena, an elderly lady, to the floor in the process.
Ben, who has had a few drinks, thinks that Jaco is coming over to hit him and strikes out at Jaco, who falls to the floor, breaking his nose.
By now Frank and Alexia are both hallucinating as a result of drinking the hallucinogenic tea. They become convinced that killer zombies have invaded the bar and so they reach for their shotguns and shoot three people dead before being wrestled to the ground by Mo, another member of the bar staff. Mo is holding the guns when PC Knacker arrives. Assuming Mo has fired the shots, PC Knacker shoots him dead.
Discuss the possible criminal liability of Jaco, Ben, Frank, Alexia and PC Knacker.
2. Criminal homicide
2015A Question 1
Adam and Eve are having an argument. Adam pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot Eve. Eve tells Adam he is a coward and would not dare. Without deliberating Adam pulls the trigger. The bullet misses Eve and hits the wall behind Eve causing the bullet to ricochet and hit Graham (who is standing six feet away) on the head. Graham falls down unconscious. Adam runs over to help Graham. He trips as he does so and falls on top of Graham, killing him.
Discuss.
2015B Question 3
Mary and Peter are twin brother and sister. They have endured years of physical abuse at the hands of their father. After leaving home, they remain very angry about their father’s treatment of them and decide to kill him. They order some poison from the internet and decide to leave it in his favourite whisky, knowing that he likes a daily ‘night cap’. Their father drinks the whisky. However, they have actually ordered a harmless fruit juice and their father suffers no ill effects from the drink.
Peter is relieved to learn that they have not killed their father. Mary, on the other hand, is very angry that their father survives and decides that she will find another way to kill her father. One evening, her father tells her that her birth was a mistake and that neither he nor her mother has ever loved her. This sends her into a fury. Once her father’s back is turned, Mary takes a saucepan and repeatedly hits him over the head with it. He later dies from his injuries. Peter is surprised but secretly pleased that Mary has killed their father.
Advise Mary and Peter on any criminal liability arising.
2015AB Question 2
Simon is aged thirty, but has the mental age of a twelve-year-old. He has been addicted to solvents for several years, and is well known to have a very short temper. Over the last four months he has attended a psychiatric hospital as an out-patient, to receive treatment for a personality disorder.
On a recent visit to hospital, Simon was spotted by Patrick and Patrick’s girlfriend Tara. Patrick shouted out ‘Hi, simple Simon’ and both Patrick and Tara then began to make fun of Simon’s mental condition. Simon was upset and angry. He ran into the grounds of the hospital where he found a gardener’s spade. Some time later he saw Patrick and Tara walking together in the gardens. Simon attacked Patrick with the spade causing serious injuries. He then chased Tara who fled in terror. Simon threw the spade at Tara causing her to fall through the window of a greenhouse. She suffered severe injuries.
Patrick and Tara were rushed to the Emergency Department where Patrick was given the wrong dosage of a powerful painkilling drug and he died a short time later. When Tara was told about this she became distraught. Whilst nobody was in her room, she struggled from her bed and threw herself out of the window, dying instantly.
Advise Simon of his potential liability for homicide.
inhaling smoke.
(b) Fred and Wilma had been married for 20 years. Fred had become suspicious that Wilma was having an affair with Barney because he had seen several playful messages that she had sent to Barney on the social media site, FacePage. One night, Wilma came downstairs wearing a lot of make-up and a very short skirt. Fred became angry and asked her, “where are you going dressed like a tart? I know you are going out with him. You should be ashamed of yourself wearing clothes like that. I’m embarrassed to call you my wife!” Wilma, enraged by his comments, went to grab her handbag to leave the house. Thinking she was about to hit him with it, Fred punched her in the face, she fell backwards, hit her head on the fireplace and died instantly.
(c) Chad was a car mechanic, suffering from a severe hangover from drinking too much at a party the previous night. He serviced Alexei’s car but was too tired to take it for a test drive. Alexei collected the car and drove off. As he was descending a steep hill, he tried to brake hard, but the brakes failed because Chad had forgotten to refill the brake fluid. The car rolled out of control down the hill and hit Jinny who was walking on the pavement. Jinny died instantly.
2017A Question 2, 2017B Quesiton 2
(a) John went to stay with his friend Luke. One evening Luke cooked a special dish of mussels and prawns for John. Later that evening John began to vomit due to an allergic reaction to the mussels. Luke put John to bed hoping that a good sleep would aid his recovery. When Luke tried to wake John the next morning John was in a coma. Luke did not realise this and so did not call the ambulance. When, a few hours later, Luke finally realised that something was seriously wrong with John he called for an ambulance. John died on the way to hospital.
Consider Luke’s possible criminal liability for gross negligence manslaughter.
(b) Imran and Ed, who were both in love with the same woman, had an argument. In the course of the argument Ed pushed Imran hard. Imran responded by pushing Ed equally hard. Ed fell over, cutting his arm badly. Imran tried to stop the bleeding with a handkerchief but was unable to do so because Ed was a haemophiliac which meant that his blood would not clot. Imran took Ed to the hospital but got stuck in traffic. By the time he had arrived at hospital Ed had died of blood loss.
Consider Imran’s possible liability for constructive manslaughter.
2017B Question 1
Mustaq and Somaya are colleagues who work at an art gallery. One day a valuable painting goes missing and Mustaq accuses Somaya of stealing it. This is untrue. Somaya is outraged and picks up a bronze sculpture and hurls it at Mustaq. In attempting to avoid being struck by the sculpture, Mustaq strikes his head on an open door, suffering a fractured skull. Somaya shouts, “You deserved that!”, and storms out of the room. When Mustaq is found an hour later an ambulance is called. He is taken to hospital but is not examined for several hours due to the hospital receptionist forgetting to log his arrival. By the time the doctor arrives Mustaq has died. If he had been examined on arrival he would have survived.
Discuss the criminal liability of Somaya.
How, if at all, would your answer differ if Mustaq’s accusation was true?
2017AB Question 3
Jaz is a member of an ethnic and religious grouping who insist that members must only contract marriage and other emotional attachments with members of that same grouping. He discovers that his young daughter, Rita, is having an affair with Sonny, who is not a member of their grouping. Jaz asks his son Ajay to help him beat Sonny up. When Ajay refuses Jaz threatens to kill Ajay. Ajay agrees reluctantly hoping Jaz will change his mind. They go round to Sonny’s house and find Rita in bed with Sonny. In a fury Ajay hits both of them several times with an iron bar he has been carrying. Rita is killed but Sonny manages to escape. He presents himself at hospital almost unconscious. The nurse on duty, thinking Sonny is drunk, calls for help to remove Sonny from the premises. He is left on a bench outside the hospital. An hour later Sonny dies. If he had been treated immediately he would have survived.
Discuss the possible criminal liability of Jaz and Ajay.
2018A Question 2, 2018B Question 2
Femi lives with Sonya. Femi regularly forces Sonya to give him the money which she earns working as a prostitute. He has beaten her and sexually abused her on a number of occasions, particularly when he is drunk. One evening, while cooking, Sonya hears Femi stumbling through the front door, clearly intoxicated. Fearing that Femi will beat her up again and force her to have sex with him, Sonya cuts her wrists. When Femi sees what she has done, he taunts her, saying that she is a pathetic attention seeker. Sonya reaches for the bread knife and throws it at Femi. In trying to avoid the knife, Femi falls over and hits his head on the floor, rendering him unconscious. Sonya runs out of the house slamming the door saying, “that serves you right, you bully, I hope you die.” The effect of slamming the door is to extinguish the flames on the gas cooker. When Sonya returns Femi is dead, having been asphyxiated by the gas.
Discuss Sonya’s potential liability for the murder of Femi and any defences which may be available.
2019A Question 1
Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions that follow.
Colin, aged 17, is talking to his fellow pupil at college, Duncan. They are having an argument about who is better at playing a computer game and the argument gets heated. Colin shouts at Duncan and prods him in the chest with his finger. Unbeknown to Colin, Duncan has recently been involved in a car accident in which he fractured a rib. As Colin prodded him in the chest just where the broken rib is, the rib penetrates Duncan’s lung and Duncan collapses struggling to breathe. Colin panics and calls over to Bjorn, a teacher at the College who is trained in first aid. Bjorn immediately starts mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and begins chest compressions on Duncan. These chest compressions compound the injury to Duncan’s lung and, unable to breathe for over six minutes, he dies.
A few days later, Duncan’s mother, Astrid, was driving along a busy street when she sneezed and momentarily lost control of her car. The car swerved and hit Bjorn who was riding by on his bicycle. Astrid gets out of the car to assist the cyclist who is lying unconscious on the road. She recognises the cyclist as Bjorn, who she believes is the person responsible for her son’s death. Shocked and raging with fury she shouts, “That serves you right. I hope you die.” She gets back in her car and drives off. Bjorn, suffering from severe head injuries from the fall, dies 10 minutes later.
(a) If you were a prosecutor, what would be your preferred charge of homicide, murder or manslaughter, in relation to Colin?
(f) Give reasons for your answer in (e) above.
(g) Assuming the court finds that the chain of causation was not broken which defences are available to a charge of murder?
(h) Which of those defence(s) considered in (g) above carries the greatest chance of success?
(i) Give reasons for your answer in (h) above.
(j) Taking everything into account, what is your final conclusion on the question of Soraya’s liability?
3. Non-fatal offences against the person
2015A Question 2
Kimberly recently ended her relationship with Ben, a work colleague. Ben was very angry about this and decided to ‘teach her a lesson’. He sent her a number of obscene and abusive messages by email, and also left similar messages on her answering machine. Owing to this Kimberly suffered a severe psychological reaction and was absent from work for three months.
On her return to work, Kimberly saw Ben in a corridor. He was holding open a heavy glass door and as Kimberly approached he made a movement which made it appear as if he was about to swing the door at her. Kimberly jumped back in alarm, fell and broke her arm. Ben now says that he was only moving the door slightly ‘for a laugh’.
Richard, a colleague, became aware of these incidents. He approached Ben and told him ‘to pick on somebody your own size’. They agreed to ‘settle things’ in the boxing ring in the work’s gym. They fought together one evening and each suffered cuts and bruises.
Advise Ben and Richard as to their potential criminal liability.
2015B Question 2
Lazim, a malicious joker, blows up a paper bag and explodes it behind Mary’s back. The shock causes Mary to jump sideways and bang her head on a cupboard door, causing bruising. Lazim then laces Zoe’s face cream with roughly ground glass. The resulting abrasions turn septic necessitating head bandages, cortisone injections and a course of antibiotics. Zoe is left with slight scarring to the cheeks. Later Lazim gives Eve, a blind person, a false set of directions across town, hoping that she gets lost. Instead she suffers serious injury when she gets knocked over by a car on a road she mistook for a pavement. When Moeen, a police officer, hears what Lazim has done runs after Lazim to arrest him. Lazim hides in a doorway intending, when Moeen runs past, to stick out his foot and trip him. By mistake, he trips up Noor, a young girl running home after school, causing her to cut her leg.
Discuss.
2015AB Question 4
Consider any offences which Ken, Rita, and Zach may have committed in the following three situations together with any defences they may be able to raise.
(a) Rita sees Sanjiv apparently attacking Leon in the street. She pushes Victor, who is watching, out of the way in order to help Leon defend himself against the attack. Victor falls over and breaks his ankle. Rita then hits Sanjiv over the head with a brick, fracturing his skull. Unknown to Rita both Victor and Sanjiv are police officers who were trying to arrest Leon.
(b) Ken, an illegal immigrant, works for Duncan. His job is to water and care for cannabis plants which Duncan is growing illegally. Duncan pays him no wages and refuses to allow him to leave the compound, which is locked at all times, where the plants are grown. He tells him that if he tries to escape he (Duncan) will inform the police that Ken is an illegal immigrant and he will be deported back to his own country. Ken knows that if he is deported his life will be in danger as the authorities in that country, which is presently undergoing a civil war, often execute or imprison returning emigrants. One day Ken, anxious to escape from his imprisonment, sets light to the compound which burns to the ground. Ken then makes good his escape.
to her arm using a penknife. Fred does not want to do this but reluctantly agrees when Rita tells Fred that she will end the relationship if he does not. The wound is not serious, although it does require three stitches. Henry is angry with Fred and they decide to settle their differences by having a fight. Fred punches Henry, knocking him over and causing him to fracture his wrist.
As Fred is making his way home, a beggar, Toni, who is carrying a baby in her arms, approaches him and asks him for money. Fred, who is still angry after the fight, raises his hand in a threatening way. In trying to protect herself and the baby, Toni accidentally drops the baby which bruises it slightly.
The police are called. PC Dibble tries to arrest Fred but Fred pushes PC Dibble in an attempt to get away, causing PC Dibble to fall to the ground suffering serious cuts to his arm.
Discuss the possible criminal liability of Fred.
2017AB Question 6
One evening at the post-cricket match party at Rahul’s house Sachin sees his (Sachin’s) girlfriend, Maya, kissing Sachin’s best friend, Virat. Sachin picks up his cricket bat, waves it in the air and shouts at both of them ‘I’m going to kill you two.’ He aims the bat at Virat and Virat ducks out of the way, causing him to hit his head on the cupboard door, which causes it to bleed.
Virat is so angry that he pushes Sachin hard, which causes him to fall backwards over a stool onto the floor. He is knocked unconscious for a few seconds. When Sachin recovers consciousness both, Virat and Maya have disappeared.
Sachin finds them in bed asleep. Sachin takes a pair of scissors and cuts off Virat’s beard. He then scratches the words ‘Virat is having an affair with Sachin’s girlfriend’ on Virat’s favourite cricket bat.
Discuss the possible criminal liability of Sachin and Virat.
2018A Question 1, 2018B Question 1
Dennis decides to play some tricks on people at school. He puts itching powder in Biffo’s underpants. Biffo scratches the area so severely that it draws blood. Then Dennis substitutes the sugar in the sugar basin with salt. Minnie feels ill all day after drinking salty tea. Dennis next spreads butter on the floor of the toilets. When Pleg goes to the toilets, he slips on the butter and bangs his head, losing consciousness momentarily. Next Dennis inflates a paper bag and explodes it behind Ted who is on a step ladder changing a light bulb. Ted falls off the step ladder in shock and cuts his hand on the broken bulb. Finally, Dennis replaces Billy’s insulin, which Billy self-injects for diabetes, with water. Later, when driving home, Billy suffers hyperglycaemia which affects his vision causing him to collide with another car, causing him cuts and bruises.
Discuss. DO NOT consider any possible liability under Section 23 Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861.
2018AB Question 3
Debbie is a hairdresser. One day while she is cutting Anne’s hair, she is distracted by her favourite song on the radio to which she starts dancing. As she is doing so she accidentally cuts into Anne’s earlobe with her scissors and Anne is left with a faint scar.
Debbie has another customer, June, who is having a permanent wave put in her hair. Debbie
applies the permanent wave lotion onto June’s hair. However, a friend calls into the salon and starts chatting to Debbie. Debbie suddenly realizes that June has had the lotion in her hair for over an hour. When it is washed out, most of June’s hair has fallen out and she has some surface burns on her scalp.
Debbie goes to make a cup of tea and offers the new salon junior, Bruno, a cup. Debbie likes to play practical jokes on the new juniors as part of their “initiation” to the salon. She places some cannabis in a cup with hot water and offers it to him as a cup of “herbal tea”. Bruno has a bad reaction to the cannabis and triggers severe vomiting, leading to dehydration for which he needs hospital treatment.
On his return to work, Debbie says to him, “you’ll keep quiet about what I put in your tea if you know what’s good for you”. Bruno breaks down in tears and has to leave his job due to panic attacks occasioned by the experience. Several weeks later, still feeling depressed and anxious, he visits his doctor, Dr Trim. Dr Trim’s surgery is running late and he quickly dismisses Bruno by saying, “Go for a long walk and look at the pretty flowers in the park to cheer yourself up”. He has not read Bruno’s notes which state that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder having been bullied at school. His panic attacks get worse and he is admitted to hospital.
Discuss Debbie’s criminal liability, if any. DO NOT discuss Dr Trim’s liability.
2019A Question 5
To celebrate her birthday Florence throws a party. She wants to please her guests so she makes sure she keeps filling their glasses with champagne and encourages them to dance in the living room.
While Brian is dancing, his wristwatch gets caught in Ermintrude’s hair. As he pulls his hand away he rips some of her hair out. Angry about this, Ermintrude waits until his back is turned and hits him on the back causing him to fall forward. His head hits the wall and a picture hanging on the wall falls and hits him on the head. Brian is left with bruising and a large lump on his forehead. The picture frame smashes into pieces.
Dylan is in the kitchen eating a homemade mushroom pie. Unknown to him, Florence baked the pie with mushrooms which she knew to have psychedelic properties. She did this thinking it would help her guests relax and have fun. Dylan begins hallucinating and, as Rusty walks into the kitchen, Dylan believes Rusty is a dinosaur about to attack him. He grabs a knife to defend himself, but stumbles as he does so, cutting Rusty’s arm with the knife. Rusty suffers partial paralysis of his wrist as a result of nerve damage in his arm.
Later in the evening Florence sees Zeb, whom she does not know and has not invited to the party. Zeb is drunk and is annoying other guests. Fearful that things could get unpleasant, Florence grabs an empty champagne bottle and hits Zeb over the head with it, causing him to collapse unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. He survives the attack but needs eight stitches in his head and suffers post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the attack.
Discuss the criminal liability, if any, of the parties.
2019B Question 7
Rhonda and Stefan are partners. One day Stefan starts tickling Rhonda on the sofa. For a while she finds this enjoyable but then becomes breathless, as she suffers from asthma. She tells Stefan to stop but he carries on. In attempting to escape Rhonda jumps off the sofa, as a consequence of which she twists her ankle causing it to swell up and this gives her considerable pain. Stefan apologises and bends over Rhonda to help her up. In doing so he trips and falls on
4. Sexual offences
2015A Question 5, 2015B Question 5
Joey is sexually attracted to his neighbour, Phoebe, whom he (incorrectly) believes shares his feelings. One evening he invites Phoebe over to his house for a drink. After Phoebe has entered the house, Joey locks the front door and puts the key in his pocket. There have been several burglaries in the area and Joey always does this for security.
Joey pours Phoebe a drink and secretly slips into it a drug, which normally has the effect of loosening inhibitions. However, the drug has a different effect on Phoebe making her paranoid and terrified of Joey. Joey starts making sexual advances to Phoebe. In her state of confused paranoia Phoebe thinks that Joey will attack her if she does not submit. She also thinks she cannot escape because she saw Joey lock the door. As a result she submits to intercourse with Joey. Joey, believes, during intercourse, that Phoebe is consenting and that the drug has merely loosened Phoebe’s inhibitions a little. After the intercourse Phoebe goes home.
The next morning Phoebe decides to report the matter to the police. She is furious with Joey and phones him to tell him of her intentions. Joey is scared and decides he must kill Phoebe before she goes to the police. He decides to burn down Phoebe’s house which he hopes will cause her death. He is climbing over the back garden wall, armed with a can of petrol and matches, when another neighbour sees him and shouts out. Joey runs away.
Discuss the criminal liability of Joey.
2015B Question 1(a)
The night after returning home after a long air flight, Andrew’s sleep is disturbed by the sound of a couple having enthusiastic intercourse next door. Although still sleeping, Andrew, who has no history of sleepwalking, gets out of bed and enters his flatmate Bella’s bedroom. Bella screams upon seeing him and tries to push him out of the door. Andrew pushes Bella on to the bed and has intercourse with her. Minutes later he awakes with no recollection of the intercourse.
Discuss any criminal offences which may have been committed by Andrew and any defences which may be available thereto.
2019A Question 6
Discuss the issues arising out of consent, and proof of consent, in each of the following scenarios, in which Dennis has been charged with a sexual offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
(a) Dennis chats to Biffo in an online chat room, using a false name. He tells Biffo falsely that he is a physiotherapist and Biffo tells him he has a bad back. He invites Biffo round to his flat for some treatment and as he is massaging him he touches Biffo’s genitals.
(b) Dennis meets Walter in a bar and, after chatting for a while, invites Walter home for the night. They agree to have sexual intercourse, during the course of which Dennis ties Walter to the bed and, to add to the excitement, tells Walter that he would like to slap him repeatedly, which he does.
(c) Dennis works with Minnie and has always found her attractive but he knows she is in love with their boss, Billy, who is rich. Over lunch one day Dennis asks Minnie for a date. When she
refuses, he tells her that he has just won £1 million pounds in a lottery and that Billy is happily married (neither of which is true). Minnie then agrees to the date, following which they have intercourse in Minnie’s apartment.
(d) Gnasher is nervous about flying and, on a long haul flight, is sitting next to Dennis. Dennis tells him he has just the thing to calm him down. He gives Gnasher two tablets, which Dennis tells him contain the herb chamomile, but are in fact prescribed sleeping tablets. They have no effect on Gnasher but he so enjoys chatting to Dennis during the flight that, when they arrive at their destination, Gnasher agrees to go to Dennis’s hotel and have sex with him.
(e) Plug and Dennis are on holiday in the same hotel. Sitting by the pool one day, they begin chatting and drinking cocktails. They continue drinking until the bar closes when they go back to Dennis’s room to have sex. Plug wakes up the next morning in Dennis’s room. He remembers having sex with Dennis but cannot remember how he got to the room.
and the foreign coin and tells him that he will return later to pay. Roger later decides not to return to pay.
Discuss Roger’s potential criminal liability.
2016A Question 4
(a) Hawking works in a research laboratory, which is conducting experiments on live animals. Owning a Labrador dog himself, he is distressed to discover that Labrador dogs have recently been introduced to test the toxicity of certain new drugs. He opens all the dog cages and then leaves the premises. When the caretaker arrives later she finds half of the dogs have escaped. Within two days all of the escaped dogs have been recaptured except for one which was killed in a collision with a car.
Discuss Hawking’s potential criminal liability.
(b) Explain and discuss the notion of ‘intention to permanently deprive’ for the purpose of the Theft Act 1968.
2016B Question 4
Consider and discuss the potential liability for theft in EACH of the following situations:
(a) Gibbons, a stamp collector, spots a rare stamp on Orlando’s stamp stall at a car boot sale. Orlando, who is 12, is selling all his stamps to raise money for charity. Gibbons offers Orlando £ for the stamp although he knows it is worth nearer £50,000. Orlando accepts and the deal is done.
(b) Alan takes a cheque for £100 drawn by Cherry and made payable to Barbara. Cherry has £100 in her bank account. Alan opens an account in the name of Barbara and pays the cheque into the account causing a transfer of funds from Cherry’s to Alan’s account.
(c) Jobs, a software developer, is in the process of developing a new application (App). Berners, his assistant, downloads a file containing a prototype of the application from Jobs’s computer onto a USB memory stick intending to sell the prototype to a rival organization.
2016AB Question 6
Advise the parties of their criminal liability (if any) in ALL of the following THREE cases.
(a) Moira is applying for a car insurance policy online. Knowing that where she lives there is a prevalence of car theft which is likely to increase her premium, she puts her sister’s address on the application form.
(b) Rita is having coffee in a café. When she receives the bill she finds that her purse is not in her handbag and she has no money. She puts some old till receipts on the table under the bill, and leaves the café. On the pavement outside she sees that someone has dropped a voucher for a student discount on a facial massage at the local beauty salon. She goes to the beauty salon, has the facial massage, and pays the discounted price.
(c) Adam, a shopper, on taking a pair of shoes to the cash desk for purchase, notices that the price tags on each shoe show different amounts. He goes back to the counter to find another shoe bearing a price tag with the lower amount but cannot find one. He chooses, therefore, a matching shoe without a price tag on it and purchases the pair at the lower price.
2017A Question 6, 2017B Question 6
(a) Explain and discuss the meaning of ‘intention to permanently deprive’ for the purpose of the law of theft.
(b) Henrik and Sergio are golfing rivals. Sergio has never won a major championship. Henrik wins them all the time. On the eve of the Open Championship, Sergio removes Henrik’s putter (a type of golf club) from Henrik’s bag and hides it. He knows that Henrik will find it difficult to win using a new putter. He is right. Henrik is forced to buy a new putter when he discovers his loss and putts badly throughout the tournament. He comes second and Sergio wins. Sergio then returns the putter as he had always intended.
Discuss.
2018A Question 6, 2018B Question 6
Aftab, finding he has no money for his bus fare, takes £5 from Erina, his housemate’s wallet, leaving a note saying that he will repay it on his return. Erina has told him on a previous occasion not to do this. When he gets on the bus the driver tells him to pay later as the bus is running late. Aftab gets off the bus without paying, reasoning that others would have done the same. Later he spots a basket of apples on the street outside a house. Above the basket is a sign saying. ‘I have too many apples for my own use. Please take some but leave some for others.’ Aftab takes 50 apples leaving only three in the basket. He then goes to a fruit and vegetable shop where he sells the apples to the owner. He then buys some vegetables, using Erina’s £5 note. Next Aftab goes to an ATM cash dispenser where he withdraws £5 to repay Erina, although he knows he has no funds in his bank account to cover the withdrawal. He returns home and puts the £5 back in Erina’s wallet. Erina sees him do this and gets angry. She accuses Aftab of being a thief, to which he replies “I’m not a thief. I gave you the money back. That is not theft and anyway it is not dishonest.’ Erina replies “Well I think it is, since you knew I wouldn't agree.”
Discuss. DO NOT discuss the law relating to handling stolen goods.
2018AB Question 1
Discuss the liability of all of the following defendants for offences under the Fraud Act 2006. DO NOT discuss theft or any other offence outside the Fraud Act 2006.
(a) Blanche works in a department store selling cosmetic products. A customer asks her if a particular brand of face cream has been tested on animals. Blanche, who is new to the job and is not sure of the testing procedures used on this brand, replies: “All of our products are ethically produced.” Janet decides not to buy anything and walks away.
(b) Paula finds an ATM card sticking out of the ATM machine outside Westland Bank. She takes it out and discovers it is a card belonging to her employer, Akande. To see how much money there is in Akande’s account, she pushes the card back into the machine and tries to guess the PIN number. Her attempt is unsuccessful. Paula takes the card into the bank and hands it in.
(c) Josh is applying for a job as a trainee solicitor. On his application form he declares that he has passed all of his law exams. In fact he failed criminal law in his first year at University but managed to pass it when he re-sat the exam. Josh’s application is unsuccessful.
(d) Amelia is earning some extra cash selling her old law textbooks. A student asks her if one
2019B Question 6
State, giving reasons, whether the following scenarios are capable of resulting in a conviction for fraud by false representation under section 2 Fraud Act 2006. (Do NOT consider any other offence.)
(a) Freddie falsely promises to marry Greta in order to encourage her to agree to sexual intercourse.
(b) Morgan, a financial journalist, anxious to demonstrate his power over the stock market, writes a column urging readers to invest in a financially fragile company, stating it is a ‘sure fire winner’.
(c) Ashanti, a committed vegetarian who wants people to stop buying meat products, puts an advertisement in the Daily Echo implying that the hotdogs of HotdiggetyDog hotdog manufacturers actually contain dogmeat, which she knows to be untrue.
(d) Klara, an art dealer, describes a painting in the sales particulars as an ‘early Constable’. The painting, as she knows, is painted not by John Constable, the famous artist, but by his son, John Charles Constable, a lesser artist.
(e) Jonas tells Zahra honestly that the mileage reading on the car he is selling is accurate. Prior to concluding the sale he discovers that the previous owner tampered with the mileage reading and the reading is false. He does not communicate this to Zahra and Zahra buys the car.
2018B Question 3
Dolores returns to the car park where she has left her car to find that it is boxed in by cars on either side. She can only enter her car by opening the driver’s door and squeezing inside. She realises this creates a risk of denting the red car parked to right of her car but thinks that so long as she is particularly careful when getting into the car any damage will be avoided. Dolores is wrong and the red car is dented. The red car to the right and the blue car to the left are parked so close to Dolores’s car that she cannot reverse out of the space without risking damage to one of the cars. She decides to take that risk. Despite taking as much care as possible, Dolores breaks the wing mirror of the blue car. Without thinking, Dolores opens the door of her car without checking her mirror, intending to inspect the damage. The door hits a cyclist, Valma, causing damage to the cycle and serious injury to Valma.
Discuss Dolores’s possible criminal liability.
6. Criminal attempts
2016AB Question 2
Andre, a drug dealer, is owed money by Remi, a customer. He (Andre) instructs Omar, his bodyguard, to go and demand the money from Remi, using force if necessary. He tells Omar that if he doesn’t get the money he will beat up Omar’s wife, Jude, and tell her about Omar’s affair with him. Andre tells Omar that if he gets the money he will receive a bonus of 20% of the money retrieved. Omar is frightened by the threat and grabs a knife from his kitchen and hurries to Remi’s house. He demands the money and tries to stab Remi with the knife but the knife is blunt and does not injure Remi. Remi waits until that night to take revenge on Omar. He breaks into Omar’s house intending to attack Omar. Omar is not there but his wife, Jude, is asleep upstairs with her baby. Remi decides to frighten Jude by threatening her with violence. He bangs on her bedroom door, which is locked, and shouts, “I’m coming in there”, and starts to kick the door down. Fearing for her life and that of the baby, she drops the baby out of the window hoping she will land on soft grass, and then jumps herself. The baby dies from the fall. Jude escapes with a broken leg.
Advise the parties on their criminal liability (if any). Do NOT consider any possible liability under the Serious Crime Act 2007.
Criminal Law Past Paper Qs by topic
Module: Criminal law (LA1010)
University: University of London
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