Angus v Nisbet [Appeal Court, High Court of Justiciary]
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 23 July 2010 |
| Neutral Citation | [2010] HCJAC 76 |
| Date | 23 July 2010 |
| Docket Number | No 8 |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
Appeal Court, High Court of Justiciary
Lord Hardie, Lord Brodie, Lord McEwan
Justiciary - Crime - Breach of the peace - Public element - Conduct severe enough to cause alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community - Man passing teenage newspaper delivery girl his mobile telephone number and asking her to keep in touch - Whether breach of the peace
The appellant was convicted of conducting himself in a disorderly manner, passing his teenage newspaper delivery girl a piece of paper with a message and his mobile telephone number on it, asking her to keep in touch with him, placing her in a state of fear and alarm and committing a breach of the peace in a public street. The appellant appealed. The appellant argued that the conduct complained of amounted to no more than a private conversation between two individuals and lacked the public element necessary to constitute breach of the peace. He argued that in any event the conduct did not meet the conjunctive test in Smith v Donnelly, being neither severe enough to cause alarm to ordinary people nor such as to threaten serious disturbance to the community. The Crown argued that while it might be said that the precise nature of the communing between the appellant and the girl was private, the interaction in itself would have been such as to be liable to cause alarm, and regard had to be had to the prospect of discovery.
Held that: (1) the conduct had a public element, being an interaction between relative strangers, at the initiative of only one of them, which took place in a public street (para 13); (2) what the appellant did and said was not such as to cause alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community (para 15); and appeal allowed.
Harris v HM AdvocateSC 2010 JC 245 applied.
Smith v DonnellySC 2002 JC 65 applied.
Bowes v FrameSC 2010 JC 297 distinguished.
David Angus was charged in the sheriffdom of Tayside Central and Fife at Perth on a summary complaint at the instance of Helen Nisbet, Procurator fiscal there, the libel of which set forth a breach of the peace. The cause came to trial before the sheriff (MJ Fletcher). On 29 October 2009 the appellant was convicted. On 2 December 2009 he was fined £150. He appealed against conviction to the High Court of Justiciary by way of stated case.
Cases referred to:
Bowes v Frame sub nom Bowes v McGowanSCUNK [2010] HCJAC 55; 2010 JC 297; 2010 SLT 683; 2010 SCCR 657; 2010 SCL 761
Harris v HM AdvocateSCUNK [2009] HCJAC 80; 2010 JC 245; 2009 SLT 1078; 2010 SCCR 15; 2010 SCL 56
Smith v DonnellySCUNK 2002 JC 65; 2001 SLT 1007; 2001 SCCR 800
The cause called before the High Court of Justiciary, comprising Lord Hardie, Lord Brodie and Lord McEwan, for a hearing on 29 April 2010.
At advising, on 23 July 2010, the opinion of the Court was delivered by Lord Brodie-
Opinion of the Court-
[1] The appellant went to trial in Perth Sheriff Court on a complaint libelling the following charge:
'On 11 June 2009 at Oakbank Crescent you did conduct yourself in a disorderly manner pass J born 10/09/1994, your newspaper delivery girl, a piece of paper with a message and your mobile phone number thereon, ask her to keep in touch with you, place her in a fear of state and alarm [sic] and commit a breach of the peace.'
[2] At the conclusion of the evidence led by the Crown the solicitor acting for the appellant made a submission, in terms of sec 160 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (cap 46), that there was no case to answer in respect of the charge on the complaint. The sheriff rejected the submission. The appellant then gave evidence on his own behalf. Thereafter, having regard to the whole of the evidence, the...
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Edward Montgomery Against The Procurator Fiscal, Kilmarnock
...at para [22]). The matter required to be tested by reference to the potential reaction of a notional reasonable third party (Angus v Nisbet 2011 JC 69 at para [15]). It was accepted that the sheriff had applied the correct test but said that he had erred in holding that the conduct could ha......
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Ahmed v HM Advocate
...Justice General (Carloway), Lord Malcolm and Lord TurnbullNo 3 Ahmed and HM Advocate Cases referred to: Angus v Nisbet [2010] HCJAC 76; 2011 JC 69; 2011 SLT 98; 2010 SCCR 873; 2011 SCL 33 Carberry v HM Advocate [2013] HCJAC 101; 2014 JC 56; 2013 SCCR 587; 2013 SCL 934; 2013 GWD 30-593 Green......
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McConachie v Shanks
...Abercrombie QC, Sheriff SF Murphy QC and Sheriff WH HolliganNo 1 McConachie and Shanks Cases referred to: Angus v Nisbet [2010] HCJAC 76; 2011 JC 69; 2011 SLT 98; 2011 SCL 33; 2010 SCCR 873 Bowes v McGowan sub nom Bowes v Frame; Bowes v Procurator Fiscal, Aberdeen[2010] HCJAC 55; 2010 JC 29......
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Appeal Against Conviction By Way Of Stated Case By Douglas Mcconachie Against Procurator Fiscal, Aberdeen
...there had been no contact between them beyond the placing of the ticket onto the top of the complainer’s bag. The case of Angus v Nisbet 2011 JC 69 had not been placed before the sheriff. There the appellant had repeatedly approached a teenage newspaper delivery girl in a public street and ......