House of Lords
| DOI | 10.1177/002201838004400205 |
| Published date | 01 May 1980 |
| Date | 01 May 1980 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
House
of
Lords
Comments
on
Cases
USE OF FORCE TO PREVENT CRIME
Farrell v. Secretary
of
State for Defence
Although the proceedings in Farrell v. Secretary
of
State for Defence
[1980] 1 All E. R. 166
took
the form
of
a civil action brought against
the Ministry
of
Defence in respect
of
the killing of a man by a soldier in
Northern Ireland, the decision
of
the House of Lords contains
propositions relating to the use
of
force in the prevention of crime
which will be
of
interest to all criminal lawyers. The facts were that the
officer in command of a detachment
of
troops in Northern Ireland
received information of a bomb attack which waslikely to be made by
three men on a bank. He instructed a soldier to take up position on a
roof
opposite the bank. Four soldiers in fact took up their positions
there. One
of
them saw two men approaching the bank's night safe and
trying to open it. They were then attacked by three other men and
there was a scuffle. The soldiers called on the men to halt and informed
them
that
otherwise they would be fired on. The three attackers ran
away and all three were shot and killed.
It
transpired that none of them
was armed and that none of them possessed a bomb.
It
would seem that
the two men first seen were attempting to put money in the bank's
night safe and that the others had attacked them for the purpose of
robbing them. The widow of one
of
the men shot sued the Ministry for
damages for loss arising from what was claimed to be negligence and
assault and battery by the servants
of
the Ministry. The Ministry denied
liability, on the ground that the soldiers on the
roof
were not negligent
and that a defence to the charge of assault and battery was afforded by
s.3(I)
of
the Criminal Law Act ( N. I. ) 1967, which provides that "a
person may use such force as is necessary in the circumstances in the
prevention of crime or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of
offenders or suspected offenders
...
"
86
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