THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 265 0010 ZB

269 0010 ZB
277 0101 ZB
DIPLOMA IN LAW
LLB EXAMINATION
for External Students

INTERMEDIATE EXAMINATION (Scheme A)

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR EXAMINATIONS (Scheme B)

GRADUATE ENTRY LEVEL I (Route A)
GRADUATE ENTRY FIRST YEAR (Route B)

BSc DEGREES
for External Students

MANAGEMENT WITH LAW, LAW WITH MANAGEMENT, ACCOUNTING WITH

LAW AND LAW WITH ACCOUNTING FOR STUDENTS IN THE EXTERNAL
PROGRAMME

Criminal Law

Wednesday 21 May 2008 : 10.00 – 1.15 pm

Candidates will have fifteen minutes during which they may read the paper and make
rough notes ONLY in their answer books. They then have the remaining THREE
HOURS in which to answer the question.

Candidates should answer FOUR of the following EIGHT questions.

Candidates should answer all parts of a question unless otherwise stated.

© University of London 2008

UL08/881
Page 1 of 5
1. "By using the phrase 'substantial risk' the [trial] judge blurred the line between
intention and recklessness." (Woollin (1998) per Lord Steyn).

Discuss.

2. Natasha was a law student with a part-time job as an office cleaner working for
Mike, an insurance broker. One evening, while cleaning his office she noticed
that he had left his computer switched on and his email inbox open. Natasha read
Mike's emails and saw a message from his boss asking Mike to send his bank
account details so that some outstanding commission could be transferred to his
account. Natasha replied giving her own account number and Mike's boss
transferred £1,000 to her account. When Natasha checked her account the
following day, her account was now £800 in credit instead of being overdrawn as
it had previously been.

She went to a restaurant to celebrate her new found wealth and paid for the meal
with her bank card.

While she was getting ready to leave the restaurant, she noticed an elderly man
carrying her handbag towards the door. Thinking he was going to steal her bag,
she ran up to him, snatched her bag from him and pushed him through a glass
door. He suffered a broken nose and cuts to his face and arms. He had not been
stealing her bag. It had fallen on the floor and he had taken it to hand it in to the
cashier whose desk was by the door.

Discuss Natasha's possible criminal liability.

UL08/881
Page 2 of 5
3. Zandy borrowed a car from Jake telling him it was to be used for a 'job' at the
house of a local dignitary, Xavier. Jake assumed this to mean that Zandy was
going to burgle the house whereas she was, in fact, planning to plant a bomb in
order to destroy it.

Zandy's friend, Drusilla, who used to work for Xavier, reluctantly agreed to help
Zandy plant the bomb. Zandy had threatened to beat up Drusilla's elderly mother
if Drusilla refused to help. Because she was familiar with the house, Drusilla
was able to tell Zandy how best to get close to the front door without being
spotted and they did a successful practice run together. Drusilla had second
thoughts about helping Zandy a few days before they were to plant the bomb. She
sent her mother to stay with her brother and told Zandy that she wanted nothing
more to do with the plan and advised Zandy to abandon it.

Zandy went alone and planted the bomb. However, she had never made a bomb
before and it was so defective that it did not explode when she pressed the
detonator, and, indeed, could not have exploded in any circumstances.

Consider the possible criminal liability of the parties.

How, if at all, would your answer differ if, the following day, Zandy had returned
to the house with an improved version of the bomb and this bomb went off
destroying the house. The house was empty but the adjacent houses had to be
evacuated because of the risk of spreading fire.

4. Etienne, a Frenchman, on holiday in England was at a local disco and had been
drinking heavily. He asked Flo if she would dance with him. Flo said "No'"and
then, as Etienne turned to go, he staggered against her, pushing her over.

Flo's brother Stanley, who saw what happened, rushed over and punched Etienne
on the nose shouting, "Get out of the country you bloody foreigner". Etienne's
friend Thierry was upset by Stanley's comment and said, "We are all members of
the EU now". This further incensed Stanley, who threw a heavy ashtray at
Thierry. It missed Thierry but missed him. By this time the police had arrived
and, when PC Bill told Stanley he was under arrest, Stanley pushed him out of the
way in an attempt to run away. The force knocked PC Bill over and he cracked
his head against a table, fracturing his skull.

Discuss the possible criminal liability of Etienne and Stanley.

UL08/881
Page 3 of 5
5. In Palmer (1971) Lord Morris said of reasonable force in self-defence that, "It is
both good law and good sense that a man who is attacked may defend himself. It
is both good law and good sense that he may do, but may only do, what is
reasonably necessary.

Discuss.

6. Boris and Susie lived together. They were both alcoholics who, when drunk had
violent rows. In the course of their rows Susie often made derogatory comments
about Boris which affected his self-esteem and which caused him to hit her. He
had served a number of prison sentences for these assaults on Susie.

Susie and Boris spent an afternoon together in a bar, both drinking heavily. Boris
left before Susie and went home to chop some wood. When Susie arrived home a
couple of hours later, she told Boris that she had just seen their neighbour, John,
with his new dog, Rex. Boris misheard her and thought she had said that she had
just had sex with John. Incensed, he picked up the axe he had been using to chop
wood. Susie said, "You wouldn't dare!" He then struck Susie a number of times
with the axe.

Overcome with remorse, he called an ambulance but, due to heavy traffic, the
ambulance took 50 minutes to arrive. Susie died on the way to hospital.

Discuss Boris's possible criminal liability.

7. Randolph agreed to pay Lizzie, a prostitute, £50 if she would have sexual
intercourse with him. She agreed and sexual intercourse took place but Randolph
ran off without paying her.

That afternoon, he picked up Chiara in a singles bar. He plied her with drink
buying her several double measures when she had asked for singles. They went
back to his flat, by which time she was very drunk. He suggested that they have
sexual intercourse. Chiara giggled and promptly fell asleep. Undaunted,
Randolph had sexual intercourse with her anyway.

He thought he would leave her sleeping in his flat while he went to visit some
friends. As he left he noticed that she had gone a strange colour and her breathing
did not seem normal. He thought she probably just needed to sleep off the alcohol
and went on his way. Because of her intoxication and the way she was lying on
his sofa, Chiara could not breathe properly and died of suffocation.

Discuss the possible criminal liability of Randolph.

UL08/881
Page 4 of 5
.

8. Rita went in to her local library to see if she could find the latest Achilles Pear
murder mystery novel. She intended to steal it if she could. She found the book
she wanted and took it off the bookshelf. She was about to slip it into her bag
when she noticed the librarian watching her and so she put it back on the shelf and
left the library.

On her way home she noticed that there was a valuable camera on the seat inside
Sam's car which had been left unlocked. As she knew that Sam had a conviction
for distributing child pornography, she took the camera as she thought he would
be using it to take pornographic pictures of children. She threw it into a dustbin.

When she arrived home, her neighbour, Sally, invited her in for a cup of coffee.
While she was there, she noticed Sally's new Rolex watch and asked Sally if she
could borrow it to wear to an appointment she had later on that day as she wanted
to impress the person she was meeting. Sally refused as she was worried that Rita
might lose it. When Sally was not looking, Rita took the watch intending to
return it that evening after her appointment. Her appointment ended earlier than
she expected, however, and on the way home she noticed that the pawnshop was
still open. As she was short of money, she decided to pawn the watch and redeem
it the following day when she received her wages. She would return it to Sally
when she had redeemed it.

Discuss Rita's possible criminal liability.

END OF PAPER

UL08/881
Page 5 of 5