THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA1010 ZA

DIPLOMA IN LAW/CertHE COMMON LAW

LLB
DIPLOMA IN THE COMMON LAW
BSc DEGREES WITH LAW

Criminal law

Wednesday 2 May 2018: 10.00 – 13.15

Candidates will have THREE HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES in which to

answer the questions. Candidates must answer all parts of a question unless
otherwise stated.

PART TWO of the examination consists of both problem and essay questions
and is worth 75% of the marks. Candidates must answer THREE from the SIX
questions in PART TWO.

Permitted materials
Students are permitted to bring into the examination room the following
specified document: one copy of Core Statutes on Criminal law (Palgrave
Macmillan).

© University of London 2018

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PART TWO

1. Dennis decides to play some tricks on people at school. He puts itching

powder in Biffo’s underpants. Biffo scratches the area so severely that it
draws blood. Then Dennis substitutes the sugar in the sugar basin with
salt. Minnie feels ill all day after drinking salty tea. Dennis next spreads
butter on the floor of the toilets. When Pleg goes to the toilets, he slips
on the butter and bangs his head, losing consciousness momentarily.
Next Dennis inflates a paper bag and explodes it behind Ted who is on
a step ladder changing a light bulb. Ted falls off the step ladder in shock
and cuts his hand on the broken bulb. Finally, Dennis replaces Billy’s
insulin, which Billy self-injects for diabetes, with water. Later, when
driving home, Billy suffers hyperglycaemia which affects his vision
causing him to collide with another car, causing him cuts and bruises.

Discuss. DO NOT consider any possible liability under Section 23

Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861.

2. Femi lives with Sonya. Femi regularly forces Sonya to give him the
money which she earns working as a prostitute. He has beaten her and
sexually abused her on a number of occasions, particularly when he is
drunk. One evening, while cooking, Sonya hears Femi stumbling through
the front door, clearly intoxicated. Fearing that Femi will beat her up
again and force her to have sex with him, Sonya cuts her wrists. When
Femi sees what she has done, he taunts her, saying that she is a
pathetic attention seeker. Sonya reaches for the bread knife and throws
it at Femi. In trying to avoid the knife, Femi falls over and hits his head
on the floor, rendering him unconscious. Sonya runs out of the house
slamming the door saying, “that serves you right, you bully, I hope you
die.” The effect of slamming the door is to extinguish the flames on the
gas cooker. When Sonya returns Femi is dead, having been
asphyxiated by the gas.

Discuss Sonya’s potential liability for the murder of Femi and any
defences which may be available.

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3. Jaco and Lala go to the local bar on New Year’s Eve. The bar is full of
people. Unbeknown to Frank, the bar manager, Xavier puts a very potent
hallucinogenic drug into his tea. Frank drinks some of this tea. A member
of the bar staff, Alexia, who knows that the drug is in the tea, also drinks
some.

As Jaco is ordering drinks at the bar he sees two men, Ben and Chris,
looking in their direction. He hears Ben say, ‘I think that woman (Lala)
fancies me.’ This makes Jaco angry and so he rushes over to Ben to
protest, knocking Ena, an elderly lady, to the floor in the process.

Ben, who has had a few drinks, thinks that Jaco is coming over to hit him
and strikes out at Jaco, who falls to the floor, breaking his nose.

By now Frank and Alexia are both hallucinating as a result of drinking

the hallucinogenic tea. They become convinced that killer zombies have
invaded the bar and so they reach for their shotguns and shoot three
people dead before being wrestled to the ground by Mo, another
member of the bar staff. Mo is holding the guns when PC Knacker
arrives. Assuming Mo has fired the shots, PC Knacker shoots him dead.

Discuss the possible criminal liability of Jaco, Ben, Frank, Alexia and PC
Knacker.

4. EITHER

(a) Critically evaluate the law of criminal attempts, giving suggestions

for reform.

OR

(b) Explain and discuss the law relating to joint enterprise liability.

5. EITHER

(a) Explain and critically evaluate the law of consent as it applies to

the crime of rape.

OR

(b) ‘There is one coherent thread underpinning the case law in the
field of causation, which is that people should be held
accountable for the consequences of their own unlawful actions
unless it would be clearly inappropriate for reasons of morality,
common sense or otherwise.’

Discuss.

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6. Aftab, finding he has no money for his bus fare, takes £5 from Erina, his
housemate’s wallet, leaving a note saying that he will repay it on his
return. Erina has told him on a previous occasion not to do this. When
he gets on the bus the driver tells him to pay later as the bus is running
late. Aftab gets off the bus without paying, reasoning that others would
have done the same. Later he spots a basket of apples on the street
outside a house. Above the basket is a sign saying. ‘I have too many
apples for my own use. Please take some but leave some for others.’
Aftab takes 50 apples leaving only three in the basket. He then goes to
a fruit and vegetable shop where he sells the apples to the owner. He
then buys some vegetables, using Erina’s £5 note. Next Aftab goes to
an ATM cash dispenser where he withdraws £5 to repay Erina, although
he knows he has no funds in his bank account to cover the withdrawal.
He returns home and puts the £5 back in Erina’s wallet. Erina sees him
do this and gets angry. She accuses Aftab of being a thief, to which he
replies “I’m not a thief. I gave you the money back. That is not theft and
anyway it is not dishonest.’ Erina replies “Well I think it is, since you knew
I wouldn't agree.”

Discuss. DO NOT discuss the law relating to handling stolen goods.

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