Sayers v H. M. Advocate
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 27 November 1981 |
| Date | 27 November 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 5. |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
JC
Lords Hunter, Robertson, Dunpark.
Crime—Conspiracy—Verdict deleting all the specified criminal means of furthering common purpose—Whether remainder of charge constituted a crime—Relevancy—Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976 (cap. 8), sec. 10 (1) (a) and (5).1
The appellant was charged on an indictment with conspiring to further the purpose of the Ulster Volunteer Force or some other association to the prosecutor unknown by specified criminal means, namely, the unlawful acquisition of firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property. Further specified means were deleted from the charge by the Crown before the case went to the jury. The appellant was also charged, as a separate offence in pursuance of the conspiracy, with soliciting firearms to be used in connection with acts of terrorism in the United Kingdom and connected with Northern Irish Affairs, contrary to sec. 10 (1) (a) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976. The jury found the statutory charge not proven. They convicted the appellant of conspiracy under deletion of the references in the charge to the acquisition of firearms and explosives. The appellant appealed against the conviction.
Held that a charge of conspiracy libelling only an agreement to further a purpose by illegal means would not have been relevant without specification of the means. By their deletion of the specification in the body of the indictment and their verdict of not proven on the statutory charge, the jury had rejected the only specification of the means libelled. Their verdict did not disclose a crime; and convictionquashed.
Kenny v. H. M. AdvocateSC 1951 J.C. 104 referred to.
Norman Sayers and other persons were charged on indictment that "between 1st January 1980 and 7th April 1981, both dates inclusive, at 76 Collina Street, 117 Caldarvon Street, 85 Thornton Street, 84 Cumlodden Drive, 25 Elizabeth Street, the Sandbank Social Club, Hughes Memorial Hall, Sandbank Street, 74 Fingal Street, 249 Sandbank Street, the Red Parrot Bar, the Kenilworth Hotel and the Blythswood Hotel all in Glasgow and at 110 Balfour Wynd, 9 Lammer Wynd, 74 Donaldson Road and the Windsor Bar, all in Larkhall, or elsewhere in Scotland to the Prosecutor unknown, you did conspire with each other and with other persons to further by criminal means the purpose of an association of persons known as the ULSTER VOLUNTEER...
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