‘A General Description’: Incorporating Battery Into a Generic Charge of Common Assault: R (on the application of Ward) v Black Country Magistrates’ Court [2020] EWHC 680 (Admin)
| Author | Mark Thomas |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018320924132 |
| Published date | 01 August 2020 |
| Date | 01 August 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
Case Note
‘A General Description’:
Incorporating Battery Into
a Generic Charge of
Common Assault
R (on the application of Ward) v Black Country Magistrates’ Court [2020]
EWHC 680 (Admin)
Keywords
Common assault, assault, battery, assault by beating
Section 39(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that:
Common assault and battery shall be summary offences and a person guilty of either of them shall be liable to
a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to
both.
Ward was a renewed application for judicial review against the fairness of the claimant’s conviction
for assault. In particular, it concerned the circumstances where a defendant is charged with ‘common
assault’ and that charge then proceeds on the basis of a battery.
The material facts of this case, leading to the charge of common assault, are not available in the
judgment at the time of writing. The transcript merely provides that Craig Ward (W) ‘was involved in an
altercation with a number of other men’ (at [2]) which led to his arrest and the charge of common assault.
This lack of factual matrix is likely intentional here given that they are in no way relevant to the judicial
review claim, or to the safety of his conviction. The focus, in terms of background information, is on how
the trial proceeded against W.
Initially, W was charged as follows:
On 28/11/2017 at Walsall in the County of West Midlands assaulted Jamie Taylor. Contrary to section 39 of
the Criminal Justice Act 1988. (Common Assault)
W, having not attended court, was arrested by police and presented to the court several days later. W
alleged that due to a state of anxiety, he was unfit to participate in the hearing and refused to enter a plea.
It is at this stage that the background information becomes pertinent. According to the court record, the
charge against W was amended as follows:
On 28/11/2017 at Walsall in the County of West Midlands assaulted Jamie Taylor by beating him. Contrary to
section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. (original emphasis)
Importantly, W claimed that this alteration of charge was not made in his presence. This allegation
would form the basis for the judicial review claim.
The Journal of Criminal Law
2020, Vol. 84(4) 392–395
ªThe Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0022018320924132
journals.sagepub.com/home/clj
To continue reading
Request your trial