Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what is the prosecution rate is for trespass committed in (a) Sussex and (b) England.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The CPS does not maintain a central record of prosecutions which involved trespass. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
Trespass is not of itself a criminal offence. However, there are some offences in which trespass is an essential element. The tables below set out the most common examples of such offences, where a prosecution commenced in the Sussex Police Force Area and in England, during each of the last three years.
Offences recorded in the CPS Case Management Information System are those which reached a hearing. There is no indication of the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
It should be noted that the figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It may be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence.
TABLE (A) SUSSEX POLICE FORCE AREA
|
| 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 61(4) } | Failing to comply with a police direction to leave land | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 62B } | Failure to comply with a direction under s62A to leave land: alternative site available | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 63 } | Failure to comply with a direction to leave land: attending or preparing for a rave | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 65 } | Failing to comply with a direction not to proceed to a rave | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 68 } | Aggravated trespass | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 69 } | Failing to comply with a direction: aggravated trespass | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 76 } | Trespassing during the currency of an interim possession order (“IPO”) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 6 } | Violence to secure entry | 24 | 20 | 19 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 7 } | Adverse occupation of residential premises. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 8 } | Trespassing with a weapon of offence | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 9 } | Trespassing on premises of a foreign mission | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Firearms Act 1968 { 20(1) of and Schedule 6 } | Trespass in a building with a firearm or imitation firearm | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Firearms Act 1968 { 20(2) of and Schedule 6 } | Trespass on land with a firearm | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 14B(3) and (7) } | Inciting another knowingly to take part in a prohibited assembly | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 14C(3) and (5) } | Failing to comply with a direction: trespassory assembly. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment Act 2012 { 144(1) and (5) } | Squatting in residential premises. | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |
TABLE (B) ENGLAND
|
| 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 61(4) } | Failing to comply with a police direction to leave land | 0 | 8 | 1 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 62B } | Failure to comply with a direction under s62A to leave land: alternative site available | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 63 } | Failure to comply with a direction to leave land: attending or preparing for a rave | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 65 } | Failing to comply with a direction not to proceed to a rave | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 68 } | Aggravated trespass | 38 | 45 | 114 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 69 } | Failing to comply with a direction: aggravated trespass | 17 | 40 | 36 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 76 } | Trespassing during the currency of an interim possession order (“IPO”) | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 6 } | Violence to secure entry | 1,413 | 1,271 | 1,081 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 7 } | Adverse occupation of residential premises. | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 8 } | Trespassing with a weapon of offence | 5 | 4 | 2 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 9 } | Trespassing on premises of a foreign mission | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Firearms Act 1968 { 20(1) of and Schedule 6 } | Trespass in a building with a firearm or imitation firearm | 5 | 0 | 2 |
Firearms Act 1968 { 20(2) of and Schedule 6 } | Trespass on land with a firearm | 4 | 4 | 5 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 14B(3) and (7) } | Inciting another knowingly to take part in a prohibited assembly | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Public Order Act 1986 { 14C(3) and (5) } | Failing to comply with a direction: trespassory assembly. | 21 | 1 | 3 |
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment Act 2012 { 144(1) and (5) } | Squatting in residential premises. | 30 | 39 | 25 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |