Inchoate offences & parties (attempt, accomplices)

CRL.10 — Inchoate Offences & Parties

Inchoate offences punish steps towards a crime even if the full offence never happens. Parties law catches those who help or join in an offence committed by another.

Attempt (Criminal Attempts Act 1981, s.1)

Definition: doing an act that is more than merely preparatory to the commission of an indictable offence, with intent to commit it.

• Actus reus — "more than merely preparatory." The act need not be the last act, but mere preparation is not enough. R v Gullefer (got on the track but not the running); R v Geddes (lurking in school toilets with kit = merely preparatory); R v Jones (pointing loaded gun = sufficient).
• Mens rea — intention to commit the full offence (direct or oblique). For attempted murder, nothing less than intent to kill suffices (Whybrow) — intent to cause GBH is not enough, even though it is for murder itself.
• Conditional intent counts (intending to steal whatever is worth taking).
• Impossibility is NO defence (s.1(2)–(3)): you can attempt the impossible (Shivpuri — believing a substance was drugs; R v Jones (1990) line). Factual and legal-mistake impossibility both caught, but you cannot "attempt" something that is not in law a crime.
• Cannot attempt most summary-only offences, attempt itself, conspiracy, or aiding/abetting.

Accomplices / Secondary Parties (Accessories and Abettors Act 1861, s.8)

A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures an offence is liable as a principal.

• Actus reus — assistance or encouragement (procuring needs a causal link — Attorney-General's Reference (No 1 of 1975), spiking drinks). Mere presence is not enough unless it actually encourages (Clarkson).
• Mens rea (post-Jogee) — R v Jogee [2016] abolished "parasitic accessory liability." The accessory must intend to assist/encourage AND intend (or know the essential matters) that P will act with the requisite mens rea. Foresight of what P might do is now only evidence of intent, not a separate test.

Key traps

• Attempt MR ≠ full-offence MR for murder (intent to kill only).
• "More than merely preparatory" vs preparation — fact-sensitive; learn Geddes/Gullefer.
• Impossibility defeats attempt arguments — it is no defence.
• Post-Jogee: foresight is evidence, not the test — don't apply the old Chan Wing-Siu foresight standard.
• Withdrawal: an accessory can avoid liability by timely and unequivocal communication of withdrawal (more needed for spontaneous violence).
• A secondary party can be convicted even if the principal is acquitted (e.g. principal has a defence), provided the offence's actus reus occurred.