UK Offence Report

Offences and penalties

paragraph 11(2) of SCHEDULE of Financial Assistance for Young Farmers Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2005

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 If any person intentionally obstructs an authorised person (or

a person accompanying him and acting under his instructions) in exercise of his powers under Article

9 he shall be guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally.

What would breach paragraph 11(2) of SCHEDULE?

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. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Financial Assistance for Young Farmers Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2005.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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
Status not determined
Made
3 March 2005
In force from
4 April 2005
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

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

The Scheme set out in the Schedule to this Order makes provision for grant towards expenditure incurred in servicing loans obtained by young persons for the purposes of, or in connection with, the implementation of a business plan relating to the establishment, expansion or carrying on of an agricultural business. A young person is defined, for the purposes of the Scheme, as a person under the age of 40 at the time he makes an application for grant under the Scheme. The Scheme – a provides for applications (Article 4); b sets a closing date of 3 April 2008 for applications (Article 5); c sets limits on the amount of grant payable under the Scheme to any young person (Article 6); d enables the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (“the Department”), having regard to the financial resources which are available for the payment of grant, to suspend further consideration of applications until such time as may be specified by it (Article 7); e imposes record keeping requirements on persons benefiting from the Scheme (Article 8); f confers powers of entry and inspection on persons authorised by the Department (Article 9); g provides for the determination of interest on amounts recoverable from persons who had received payments under the Scheme (Article 10); and h creates offences and penalties (Article 11).

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