Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person

Battery

Battery was defined by Lord Lane in the case of R v Gladstone Williams (1984) as 

“an act by which the defendant, intentionally or recklessly, applies unlawful force to the complainant.”  

Points to prove

• Application of Force

• Unlawful

• The suspect intended or was reckless as to the application of force

Acts that constitute Battery as per Offences against the Person Act 1861 & Criminal Justice Act 1988 Amendment 2025

• Shove, 

• Punch, 

• Tackle, 

• any other unlawful application of force

Causing Actual bodily harm (ABH) - Section 47 Offences Against the Perosn Act 1861

Causing Actual bodily harm is set out in section 47 of the offences against the person act 1861 which states that it is an offence to commit an assault occasioning actual bodily  harm.  Case law has also set out that for the offence of actual bodily harm the victim must sustain injury that interferes with the health or comfort of the victim however the injury must not be so trial as to be wholly insignificant:

Points to Prove

• Assault or Battry occurred

• This caused actual bodily harm

Acts that constitute ABH as per Offences against the Person Act 1861 & Criminal Justice Act 1988 Amendment 2025

• Strike a person with a blunt article

Causing Grievous Bodily Harm (S.20 GBH) - Section 20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Under Section 20 of the offences against the person act 1861 it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly inflect grievous bodily harm or wounding against any person. Case law has established that grievous bodily harm means really serious harm and wounding has been defined as any break in the continuity of the skin. 

Points to Prove

• Unlawfully

• Wound or Inflict Grievous Bodily harm

• On another person

• With the intention or recklessness as to cause some harm

Acts that constitute GBH without intent as per Offences against the Person Act 1861 & Criminal Justice Act 1988 Amendment 2025

• Incapacitate a person, or

• Cause moderate or severe injury to a person, or

• Strike or run over a person with a vehicle,

Causing Grievous Bodily Harm With Intent (S.18 GBH) - Section 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Under Section 18 of the offences against the person act 1861 it is an offence to intentionally inflect grievous bodily harm or wounding against any person. Case law has established that grievous bodily harm means really serious harm and wounding has been defined as any break in the continuity of the skin. 

Points to Prove

• Unlawfully

• Wound or Inflict Grievous Bodily harm

• On another person

• Intention to cause grievous bodily harm, or resist arrest

Acts that constitute GBH with intent as per Offences against the Person Act 1861 & Criminal Justice Act 1988 Amendment 2025

• Shoot a person, or

• Stab or slice a person, or

• Incapacitate a person, or

• Cause moderate or severe injury to a person, or

• Strike or run over a person with a vehicle,

Threats to Kill - Section 16 Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Under Section 16 of the offences against the person act 1861 it is an offence for any person, without lawful excuse to threaten to kill another intended that the other person would carry out the threat 

• Unlawfully

• Threaten to kill another

• Intention that another will deatthe threat would be carried out

Prohibition of Harassment 

Section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 sets out the offence of harassment stating: 

"A person must not pursue a course of conduct—

(a)which amounts to harassment of another, and

(b)which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other."