R v Gullefer
An attempt begins when the defendant embarks on the crime proper, and acts that are merely preparatory are not enough.
Facts
Mr Gullefer placed a bet on a greyhound at a race. When he saw that his dog was losing, he climbed onto the track in front of the dogs, waving his arms, hoping that the stewards would declare no race, so that he could get his stake back from the bookmaker. The stewards did not do so. He was convicted of attempting to steal from the bookmaker.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction. Lord Lane CJ said that, under section 1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981, an attempt begins when the merely preparatory acts have come to an end and the defendant embarks upon the crime proper. When that is will depend on the facts of each case. Mr Gullefer's act of jumping onto the track was merely preparatory to stealing, because he would still have had to go to the bookmaker and ask for his money back.
Related cases on inchoate offences and accessorial liability
- Attorney General's Reference (No 1 of 1975) [1975] QB 773
- Attorney General's Reference (No 1 of 1992) [1993] 1 WLR 274
- DPP for Northern Ireland v Maxwell [1978] 1 WLR 1350
- Haughton v Smith [1975] AC 476
- National Coal Board v Gamble [1959] 1 QB 11
- R v Anderson [1986] AC 27
- R v Bainbridge [1960] 1 QB 129
- R v Becerra and Cooper (1975) 62 Cr App R 212
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