R v Larsonneur
A defendant was convicted of being found in the UK as an illegal alien even though she had been brought there against her will.
Facts
Miss Larsonneur, a French national, was ordered to leave the UK and went to Ireland. The Irish authorities deported her and handed her over to the British police, who brought her back to England against her will. She was charged under the Aliens Order 1920 with being an alien to whom leave to land had been refused who was found in the United Kingdom.
Legal principle
The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld her conviction. The offence was committed simply by being found in the UK, and it did not matter how she came to be there or that her presence was involuntary. The case is often cited as an extreme example of a state of affairs offence, in which liability is imposed for being in a particular situation rather than for a voluntary act, and it has been widely criticised as unjust.
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 Dytham [1979] QB 722
- 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
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