UK Offence Report

Any person who in a certificate tendered under paragraph 1 in a magistrates' court, a county court, the…

paragraph 3 of SCHEDULE 3 of The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

The provision has been revoked, but a saving provision keeps it prosecutable for conduct before a stated date. A person can still be charged with something it is no longer an offence to do.

What the provision says

3 Any person who in a certificate tendered under paragraph 1 in a magistrates' court, a county court, the Crown Court or the Court of Appeal makes a statement which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true shall be guilty of an offence and liable— a on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both; b on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach paragraph 3 of SCHEDULE 3?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person in a certificate tendered under paragraph 1 in a magistrates' court.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment)
6 months

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Revoked, but still prosecutable
Revoked by
The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010
Made
2 August 1989
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: revoked, but a saving provision keeps the offence prosecutable for conduct before the stated date.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes changes in the law in Northern Ireland relating to the powers of the police in the investigation of crime and to evidence in criminal proceedings. Parts II to V deal with police powers to stop and search persons and vehicles, to enter and search premises, as well as powers of arrest and detention. Part VI is concerned with the questioning and treatment of the persons arrested and detained. Under Part VII the Secretary of State is required to issue codes of practice for the detention, treatment, questioning and identification of persons by the police and for the searching of premises and the seizure of property by the police. Part VIII deals with documentary evidence in criminal proceedings and Part IX with evidence generally in such proceedings. Part X contains a number of general provisions relating to the police.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source