Harassment Alarm or Distress in UK Law
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R (McCann) v Manchester Crown Court
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(a) that the person has acted, since the commencement date, in an anti-social manner, that is to say, in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as himself: and
However, I agree that, given the seriousness of matters involved, at least some reference to the heightened civil standard would usually be necessary: In re H (Minors)(Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) [1996] AC 563, 586D-H, per Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead. But in my view pragmatism dictates that the task of magistrates should be made more straightforward by ruling that they must in all cases under section 1 apply the criminal standard.
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Majrowski v Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Trust
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Courts are well able to recognise the boundary between conduct which is unattractive, even unreasonable, and conduct which is oppressive and unacceptable. To cross the boundary from the regrettable to the unacceptable the gravity of the misconduct must be of an order which would sustain criminal liability under section 2.
If this was the aim, it is easy to see why the definition of harassment was left deliberately wide and open-ended. It includes alarming a person or causing her distress: section 7(2). But conduct might be harassment even if no alarm or distress were in fact caused. A great deal is left to the wisdom of the courts to draw sensible lines between the ordinary banter and badinage of life and genuinely offensive and unacceptable behaviour.
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Harvey v DPP
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Where witnesses have given oral evidence of an incident which forms the basis of a charge under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, but have said nothing and been asked nothing about experiencing harassment, alarm or distress, there is no sound basis for the court to reach that conclusion for itself. This is particularly so in the case of police officers because, as Glidewell LJ observed in Orum, they hear such words all too frequently as part of their job.
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Mark John Smith v R
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It does not follow that because references to harassing a person include alarming a person or causing a person distress (s7(2)), any course of conduct which causes alarm or distress therefore amounts to harassment ( Thomas v News Group Newspapers [2001] EWCA Civ 1233 at [29]). Essentially it involves persistent conduct of a seriously oppressive nature, either physically or mentally, targeted at an individual and resulting in fear or distress ( Thomas v News Group Newspapers at [30]).
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Hammond v DPP
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It was accordingly necessary for the prosecution to prove that the sign which Mr Hammond was displaying was threatening, abusive or insulting and that it was within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby. They also had to establish that Mr Hammond was aware that the sign might be threatening, abusive or insulting.
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Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
... ... has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person,(b) conduct ... ...
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Public Order Act 1986
... ... 2(m)(u)(xxvi) ... 4A: Intentional harassment, alarm or distress ... (1) A person is guilty ... ...
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Crime and Courts Act 2013
... ... defendant only to compensate for mental distress and not for purposes of punishment ... (3) In ... ;(e) malicious falsehood;(f) harassment ... (5) For the purposes of subsection (4) ... (2) In section 5(1) (harassment, alarm or distress) for “, abusive or insulting” in ... ...
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Crime and Disorder Act 1998
... ... that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of ... ...
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Public Order Act 1986, S. 5: Religiously Aggravated Behaviour
... ... fucking Islam ’ had actually caused distress than upon whether the words themselves were ... the words were likely to cause him harassment, alarm or distress. Leveson J concluded that the ... ...
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Swearing and s. 5 of the Public Order Act 1986
... ... Causing harassment, alarm or distress ... Police officers, acting on ... ...
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Divisional Court
... ... to Complainant by a Third Party Causing Distress S v Crown Prosecution Service [2008] EWHC 438 Admin) Keywords Harassment, alarm or distress; Delay in prohibited conduct; ... ...
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Recent Judicial Decisions
... ... : Swearing; police of fi cers; causing alarm, dis- tress or harassment; section 5 of Public ... likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby ’ ... The issues Did the repeated use of ... ...
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Section 5 Of The Public Order Act 1986: The Impact Of Harvey v DPP
... ... sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby. Unique amongst the ... ...
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Bike Cam Prosecutions
... ... harassment, alarm or distress. Although some of the more ... ...
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Should We All Be Getting the Twitter “Jitters”? Be Careful What You Say Online (Particularly in the United Kingdom)
History is littered with examples of the law being slow to catch up with the use of technology. Social media is no exception. As our Socially Aware blog attests, countries around the world are ha...
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Should we all be getting the Twitter 'jitters'? – Be careful what you say online
History is littered with examples of the law being slow to catch up with the use of technology. Social media is no exception. As our Socially Aware blog attests, countries around the world are havi...