Resisting Unlawful Arrests
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2010.74.3.631 |
| Published date | 01 June 2010 |
| Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Author | Philip Rule |
| Subject Matter | Divisional Court |
Divisional Court
Resisting Unlawful Arrests
Cumberbatch vCrown Prosecution Service; Ali vDirector of Public
Prosecutions [2009] EWHC 3353 (Admin) (2010) 174 JP 149
Keywords Unlawful arrest; Resisting arrest; Self-defence; Obstruction;
Police officer; Execution of duty
The appellant Ali was convicted in the magistrates’ court of three
charges of resisting a constable in the execution of his duty, contrary to
s. 89(2) of the Police Act 1996. The charges related to three separate
police constables: PC Kenney, PC Faherty and PI Boddy. He appealed to
the Crown Court. The Crown Court held that the first officer, PC Kenny,
lacked objective grounds for reasonable suspicion of an offence so as to
justify the initial arrest. Accordingly, the appellant was entitled to de-
fend himself and resist the unlawful arrest by PC Kenny, and he was
acquitted of that charge. The appellant had used only reasonable force.
However, the other two officers, F and B, who were unaware of the
circumstances of the initial arrest, were faced with a situation involving
a breach of the peace and the potential of an assault to a uniformed
colleague, and sought to intervene to restrain the appellant. Those
officers were acting in the execution of duty and accordingly the appeal
in respect of resisting F and B was dismissed.
The appellant Cumberbatch was convicted of assaulting a police
officer in the execution of her duty. A number of officers had attended
the appellant’s father’s address to arrest her father. The appellant be-
came upset and started pushing at the police officer who was holding
her father, and remonstrated with the officers for showing a lack of
respect. PC Richardson, who was accompanying those carrying out the
arrest, moved forward to restrain the appellant by taking hold of her
arms and moving her away from the immediate vicinity. The appellant
then lunged at PC Richardson and inflicted a deep horizontal scratch
across her throat, causing minor scarring. On the facts found by the
Crown Court, it was assumed that the arrest of the father was unlawful
(as no evidence was presented to prove its lawfulness). It was also found
that the appellant’s actions were not motivated or directed to preventing
an illegal arrest, but were directed to the manner of the arrest or what
she regarded as disrespectful treatment of her father. The Crown Court
found that the police officer who arrested the appellant was acting in the
course of her duty as the appellant presented a clear risk of violence or
a breach of the peace.
Both Ali and Cumberbatch appealed by way of case stated to the
Divisional Court arguing that they had not breached s. 89(2) of the
Police Act 1996.
189The Journal of Criminal Law (2010) 74 JCL 189–195
doi:10.1350/jcla.2010.74.3.631
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