The Unlawful Possession of a Prohibited Weapon and the Crown Servants’ Exemption
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00220183221117123 |
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
The Unlawful Possession of a
Prohibited Weapon and the
Crown Servants’Exemption
R v Chang [2022] EWCA Crim 463
Keywords
Crown servants, police officers, prohibited weapons, exemptions, official capacity
The appellant was a plain clothes police officer employed by the Cambridgeshire Constabulary. On the
day in question, he had stopped at a supermarket in order to do some shopping. Prior to entering the shop,
he had put on some articles of police clothing. This was because on a previous occasion, when he was in
plain clothes, he had not been allowed to go to the front of the queue as a ‘keyworker’. Subsequently, the
appellant sought to buy some fuel at the supermarket’s petrol station. Whilst there, he witnessed a dispute
between a staff member and a motorist. The appellant incorrectly believed that the motorist was attempt-
ing to make off without paying for the petrol. He intervened by standing in front of the motorist’s car and
pointing and shouting at him. When the motorist refused to engage with him, the appellant went to his
own vehicle and retrieved a belt to which was attached a police-issue PAVA (pelargonic acid vanillyla-
mide) spray holster, and a baton. He subsequently chased the motorist and sprayed him. The events were
captured by the motorist’s partner on her mobile phone, and on CCTV. They were also witnessed by a
police officer from the Northamptonshire Constabulary who had been called to the scene.
At his later trial before the Northampton Crown Court held on 18 June 2021, the appellant pleaded
guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon contrary to s.5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968. This followed
a ruling by the trial judge that the offence applied where a weapon had been retained by an officer when
they were off duty, contrary to police force instructions. The appellant had earlier sought to argue that the
s.5(1)(b) offence did not apply because under s.54 of the 1968 Act, police officers were Crown servants
who were able to rely, therefore, upon a statutory exemption.
At a further trial nearly four months later, the appellant was convicted of dangerous driving contrary to
s.2 of the Road Traffic Act 1998, after having changed his plea to guilty during the proceedings. His con-
viction related to an incident when he had driven an unmarked police vehicle at speeds of up to 114mph
with sirens sounding and blue lights flashing, in order to attend a bail hearing at a Magistrates’Court, for
which he was late. The appellant had lost control, crossed the carriageway in front of another vehicle, and
had come to a halt after hitting the inside and outside barriers.
In respect of his conviction for the s.5(1)(b) offence, the appellant was sentenced to ten months’
imprisonment, suspended for two years, together with a fine of £1000. For the dangerous driving
offence, he was sentenced to a consecutive suspended sentence of six months’imprisonment, also sus-
pended for two years, as well as being disqualified from driving for 14 months and being ordered to pay
the prosecution costs (£4300). In the present proceedings, the appellant appealed against his conviction
for the firearms offence, and sought leave to appeal against the total sentence of 16 months’imprisonment
suspended for two years. It was submitted on his behalf that as a police officer, he was exempt from the
s.5(1)(b) offence irrespective of the capacity that he was acting in at the time, and irrespective of where
the weapon came from.
Case Note
The Journal of Criminal Law
2022, Vol. 86(4) 277–280
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/00220183221117123
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