Winzar v Chief Constable of Kent
A drunk man removed from a hospital by police and placed on the highway was guilty of being found drunk on the highway.
Facts
Mr Winzar was taken to hospital on a stretcher, but was found to be merely drunk and was told to leave. When he did not, the police were called, and they removed him from the hospital and put him in their car, which was parked on the highway outside. He was charged with being found drunk on a highway under section 12 of the Licensing Act 1872.
Legal principle
The Divisional Court upheld the conviction. The offence was designed to deal with the nuisance of public drunkenness, and it was committed when a person was perceived to be drunk in a public place, whether or not he had gone there voluntarily. Like R v Larsonneur, the case illustrates state of affairs offences where no voluntary act is required, and it has been criticised for allowing police action to create the offence.
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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