Divisional Court

Published date01 October 2010
Date01 October 2010
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1350/jcla.2010.74.5.651
Subject MatterDivisional Court
Divisional Court
Public Order Act 1986, s. 4A: The Extent to which
‘Dwelling’ Covers Communal Areas
Le Vine v DPP [2010] EWHC 1128
Keywords Public order; Dwelling; Shared accommodation; Intentional
harassment; Alarm or distress
The appellant and the victim (G) were both residents within sheltered
accommodation in West London. Each resident had a f‌lat within the
accommodation but there were also shared facilities within the property
including a communal laundry room in the basement for use by the
residents. On 26 September 2009, G indicated that she wished to use the
laundry facilities that, at the time, were being used by a person visiting
the appellant. When the visitors washing had f‌inished, G removed the
washing from the machine and proceeded to load her own. As she was
doing this, the appellant entered the laundry room and proceeded to
shout at G, ‘you fucking bitch, who do you think you are, putting your
dirty hands in the laundry?’, followed by, ‘you fucking cunt, I am going
to knock your block off’.
The appellant was subsequently charged with an offence under s. 4A
of the Public Order Act 1986. The offence, under s. 4A(1) of the 1986 Act
provides inter alia that a person will commit an offence if, with the intent
to cause another person harassment, alarm or distress, he uses threaten-
ing, insulting words or behaviour thereby causing that other person
harassment, alarm or distress. There is a defence under s. 4A(2) of the
1986 Act that there will be no offence committed if the words or
behaviour are used by a person inside a dwelling and the other person is
also inside that, or another, dwelling. Section 8 of the 1986 Act def‌ines
a ‘dwelling’ as meaning any structure or part of a structure occupied as
a person's home or as other living accommodation (whether the occu-
pation is separate or shared with others), but does not include any part
not so occupied, and for this purpose ‘structure’ includes a tent, caravan,
vehicle, vessel or other structure.
At the trial, before a district judge sitting at the West London Magis-
trates’ Court on 20 January 2010, the appellant was convicted of the
offence under s. 4A of the 1986 Act. The judge concluded that he was of
the opinion that each f‌lat within the sheltered accommodation was a
self-contained, individual dwelling occupied by each resident as his or
her home. It was held that the availability of the communal laundry
facility in the basement does not make that room part of the resident’s
home or other living accommodation. The subsequent appeal, by way of
case stated, asked the question as to whether the district judge was
correct in f‌inding that the laundry room within the sheltered housing
was not a dwelling for the purposes of s. 8 of the 1986 Act.
388 The Journal of Criminal Law (2010) 74 JCL 388–393
doi:10.1350/jcla.2010.74.5.651

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