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Complicity summary notes
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COMPLICITYReferred to sometimes as ‘accomplice liability’ ‘parties to the crime’ ‘accessorial
liability’ ‘secondary parties’
Accessories and Abettors Act 1861, s.8:
“Whoever shall aid, abet, counsel, or procure the commission of any indictable offence … shall be
liable to be tried, indicted, and punished as a principal offender”
Terminology->
▪ Principal offence – this refers to the offence that D is aiding/abetting/counselling/procuring
(also referred to as the ‘substantive offence’, ‘full offence’, ‘future offence’)
▪ Principal offender (P) – the party who commits the actus reus with required mens rea
▪ Joint-principal – Multiple Ds complete the AR with required MR
▪ Principal via innocent agency – AR committed by uninformed third party (X) – D remains
liable as principal
▪ Accomplice – D does not complete AR of offence, but aids/abets/counsels/procures P to, and
P does complete AR (with MR)
- Uncertainty as to whether D is a principal or accomplice
Gnango 2011 -> 2 men in gunfight – Gnango and Bandana man, Bandana man aims to shoot
Gnango, but misses and shoots and kills innocent V, Bandana man is the principal offender (P) and
guilty of murder = Is D (Gnango) liable for murder too?
SC judgment (7 judge panel) ->
1. D = an accomplice (Phillips, Judge and Wilson)
2. D = principal offender (Clark)
3. D = joint principal (Brown, Clark, Dyson)
Lord Kerr: (dissenting)
Overall decision: D liable for murder … but on what grounds?!?!
Smith and Hogan 2017 -> Gnango (D) does not shoot V himself, Bandana man’s (P) shots are not
caused by Gnango (D) – they are P’s free and voluntary acts, D does not commit the AR for murder
so cannot be a principal offender or a co-principal/joint-principal
The principal offender commits the AR of the crime
Factual difficulties: principal or accomplice?
▪ D’s role in the principal offence is unclear
D1 and D2 both there – V dies – dispute about D2’s involvement
Gianetto [1997] as long as jury sure D2 either killed V himself as a principal or D2 encouraged
killing by D1 (was an accessory) can convict of murder
▪ Evidence places D at the scene, but it cannot be proven that D either committed as a
principal or an accomplice
D must be acquitted – even if case for all parties present (even though someone must have done it)
1) Actus Reus
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