Ant and Dec are both 25 years old, and have been firm friends since childhood. They are keen supporters of their local football team, Nowcastle United. One Saturday afternoon in September 2012, they travelled to watch their beloved team play away against their local rivals, Sanderland FC. The match ended in a 0-0 draw.
After leaving Sanderland football ground at 5pm, Ant and Dec decided to buy some chips on their way to the train station. Ant, a diabetic, had taken his daily dose of Insulin earlier in the day. But now he was concerned that he had not eaten anything all day, and wanted to avoid the dark mood swings and aggressive thoughts which he had experienced in the past. Twenty minutes later, they joined the queue in a fish and chip shop. Ant quickly became impatient with the speed of service, and shouted at the staff: “Come on, we’re starving back here! Get a move on!!”
A few seconds later, someone joined the queue just in front of Ant. It was the friend of someone who was already queuing there. Ant tapped him on the shoulder to make him turn round, and then punched him hard in the face.
This caused a deep cut in the skin just below his eye. It began to bleed heavily. Dec quickly grabbed Ant, to physically subdue him, and told him to calm down. The owner of the fish and chip shouted that he was going to telephone the police. Ant and Dec started to run out of the shop, but Ant was caught and restrained by two of the victim’s friends. Dec got away. The police arrested Ant, and took him to the police station for further questioning.
When later interviewed about the incident, he claimed (honestly) that he could not remember hitting the victim.
Dec continued to run as fast as he could, and soon lost his way. He stopped to catch his breath on a path by a river. He soon heard someone approaching. They were chanting: “Sunderland, Sunderland, a football-tastic wonderland!!” Dec knew that this Sunderland fan would spot that Dec was wearing a Nowcastle shirt. Within seconds, the fan confronted him, and began to verbally abuse Dec. Dec stepped back against a low stone wall. The man reached for his coat pocket, saying: “You deserve some of this!” Dec panicked, thinking that the fan was about to draw out a knife (in fact, it was a water pistol). Dec picked up a rock from the top of the wall and hit the man hard on the head with it, knocking him unconscious. Dec knelt down beside the man’s body. He could not see any signs of breathing, and believed (wrongly) that the man was dead. Panicking, he decided to drag the body to the riverbank. He then took some more rocks from the top of the wall, and placed them into the victim’s coat and trousers pockets, to make the body sink as he rolled it into the river. Dec then fled the scene of the crime, and travelled back to Nowcastle on the train.
In his haste, Dec had failed to notice that there was a CCTV camera mounted on a lamp post at the side of the path. It had captured clear images of the whole incident. He had also failed to
1: ‘To develop an understanding of the general principles of the criminal law.’
3: ‘Apply the general principles of criminal law to….specific offences.’
4: ‘Apply the principles of criminal law to….problem scenarios, and provide articulate and logical solutions.’
1: ‘Demonstrate the ability to communicate….in writing, in a professional….and unambiguous fashion.’
2: ‘Solve practical problems through the application of authoritative rules of law…’
No.4: ‘To use a range of primary and secondary sources of information; law reports, statutes…..’