Notes and queries 1 Suppose D, a former member of a violent and ruthless criminal gang who has been ‘going straight’ for the last few years, is approached by X, a former partner in the criminal gang. X tells D that he must commit a burglary or D’s family will be killed. Would D be able to avail himself of the defence of necessity? 2 It is not just membership of a criminal association that can prevent D from being allowed to rely on duress where he is threatened by fellow gang members. R v Heath (1999) The Times, 15 October indicates that D may be prohibited from relying on the defence where there is evidence that he voluntarily exposed himself to the risk of being subjected to such threats, for example by becoming indebted to a drugs dealer. The prosecution would need to provide evidence that D was aware that he might be have been putting himself at risk of being threatened with violence if he did not carry out specified offences (such as being a drugs courier) in order to ‘clear his debt’. There is no need for the prosecution to prove that D knew what type of crime he might be compelled to commit. DURESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES

ABSTRACT

Watkins LJ: ... Mark Edward Willer is 19 years of age. He is of excellent character. He appeals against his conviction for reckless driving.

What happened to bring him to conviction was that at about half past nine in the evening of 24 April 1984 he and two school friends, Martin and Richard Jordan, were driving around the town of Hemel Hempstead in the appellant’s Vauxhall Cavalier car. They heard a broadcast on the car’s, what is known as, Citizen’s Band radio. From what they heard, the appellant was persuaded to drive to a shopping precinct at Leverstock Green. There they expected to meet another enthusiast of

Citizen’s Band radio. At one stage of the journey the appellant had to drive up a very narrow turning off a road called Green Lane in order to keep his assignment with the other enthusiast mentioned. As he made his way up what is called Leaside, which is, as we see from the photographs, an alleyway, he was suddenly confronted with a gang of shouting and bawling youths, 20-30 strong. He heard one of them shouting: ‘I’ll kill you Willer’ and ‘I’ll kill you Jordan’. He stopped and tried to turn the car round. These youths surrounded him. They banged on the car. A youth called Smallpiece opened the rear door of the car and dived upon Richard Jordan who was sitting in the back of it. Martin Jordan, his brother, got out of the front seat to help. The appellant realised that the only conceivable way he could somehow escape from this formidable gang of youths, who were obviously bent upon doing further violence, was to mount the pavement on the right-hand side of Leaside and on the pavement to drive through a small gap into the front of the shopping precinct. That he did quite slowly, it was accepted, at about 10 mph.