R v Dytham
A police officer who deliberately failed to intervene to stop a fatal attack was guilty of misconduct in a public office.
Facts
Mr Dytham, a uniformed police officer, was on duty about 30 yards from a nightclub when a man was thrown out of the club and beaten and kicked to death by a bouncer. Mr Dytham did nothing to intervene or to summon help, and left the scene, saying that he was going off duty. He was charged with misconduct of an officer of justice.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal upheld his conviction. The common law offence of misconduct in a public office is committed where a public officer wilfully neglects to perform a duty that he is bound to perform by common law or statute. Mr Dytham was under a duty as a police officer to preserve the peace and protect the victim, and his deliberate failure to act, without reasonable excuse, was a serious breach of that duty.
Related cases on Actus reus and omissions
- Airedale NHS Trust v Bland [1993] AC 789
- DPP v Santana-Bermudez [2003] EWHC 2908 (Admin)
- Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1969] 1 QB 439
- R v Evans (Gemma) [2009] EWCA Crim 650, [2009] 1 WLR 1999
- R v Gibbins and Proctor (1918) 13 Cr App R 134
- R v Instan [1893] 1 QB 450
- R v Khan and Khan [1998] Crim LR 830
- R v Larsonneur (1933) 24 Cr App R 74
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