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CRIMINAL LAW, EVIDENCE AND PROCEDURE - AGGRAVATED TRESPASS—INTENTION—INTENTION TO DISRUPT LAWFUL ACTIVITY OF OTHERS
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, s 68 provides that a person commits an offence of aggravated trespass if he trespasses on land in the open air and, in relation to any lawful activity which persons are engaging in on that land, does there anything intended by him to have the effect of disrupting that activity.
The defendant was convicted of aggravated trespass, contrary to s 68, following his actions at a hunt protest. He had been running after the hunt through fields when he was arrested. At his appeal he accepted that if the prosecution proved that the action of running was in itself intended to have the effect of disrupting the hunt then he would have been guilty under s 68. However, he argued that itwas not enough to prove that he was running towards the hunt with the intention of getting close enough to do some act that was intended to disrupt the hunt.
Held, the defendant’s interpretation of s 68 was too narrow. He had an intention to disrupt the hunt and was running towards it in order to carry out that intention. That was enough to amount to disruption for the purposes of s 68, since the act of running was sufficiently closely connected to the intended disruption as to be more than merely preparatory. Accordingly, the appeal would be dismissed.
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