Terrorism Law
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What is Terrorism?
“Terrorism”, as defined in Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000, has three legal ingredients (two where firearms or explosives are involved):
- First, the use or threat of action that involves serious violence against a person; serious damage to property; endangers the life of a person other than the offender; creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of them; or is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously disrupt an electronic system.
- Second, the use or threat of action is designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation; to intimidate the public or a section of the public unless the use or threat of action involves the use of firearms or explosives.
- Third, the use or threat of action must be made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
The Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006, together with the Counter Terrorism Act of2008, create a comprehensive scheme of offences, investigatory powers and post-conviction measures for dealing with terrorism.
The available offences range from, for example:
- Possessing information useful to a terrorist (TA 2000 s58)
- Encouraging terrorism (TA 2006 s1)
- Preparing acts of terrorism (TA 2006 s5)
- Inciting terrorism abroad up to and including offences of murder (TA 2000 s5)
- Being a member or supporter of a proscribed terrorist organisation (TA 2000 ss11-12)
- Various offences re: funding of terrorism or those engaged in it (for example TA 2000 s17)
Closely allied to terrorist offences are offences under the Explosive Substances Act 1883 and offences of stirring up hatred on the grounds of race; religion or sexual orientation under Parts III and IIIA of the Public Order Act 1986.
Jonathan Sandiford KC and Denise Breen-Lawton have experience of prosecuting terrorist and explosive offences and hate crimes.
Barristers
FILTER BY EXPERTISE
Examples of Cases with St Pauls Chambers
Race Hate
Sheppard and Whittle – the publication of race hate material via the internet and the leading Court of Appeal authority on the jurisdiction of the UK Courts over the internet. See article in The Guardian and the court case breakdown.
Inciting Hatred on the grounds of Race, Religion and Sexual Orientation (and Terroism)
Sean Creighton – a White Supremacist who used a Russian social media website to stir up hatred on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation and also had a copy of the White Resistance Manual which contains bomb making instructions. See BBC News article for further details.
Terrorist Offences or with a Terrorist Connection
Umer Farooq – a dentist who became radicalised and was found in possession of a number of terrorist documents.
Yadirgi, Dag and Eroglu – three young Kurdish women firebombed a Turkish club in North London in revenge for airstrikes against the Kurds.
R v X– the youngest person arrested for terrorist offences in the UK was a schoolboy supporter of Islamic State and incited a male in Melbourne, Australia to attack and murder persona attending the ANZAC memorial parade.
Ethan Stables – the defendant was a Nazi/White Supremacist who prepared an attack on a gay pride event in Cumbria.
Explosives Substances Act Offences
R v Snow and Atkins – two racist Cat A prisoners who tried to post crude improvised explosive devices to two firms of Asian solicitors.
Nadeem Mohammed and [2017] EWCA Crim. 1832 was stopped by security at Manchester Airport as he attempted to take an IED (a pipe bomb) on to a flight to Italy.
R v Madle – the manufacture of an IED in combination with more conventional criminality.
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The Latest Terrorism Law News and Cases
Follow our blog for further information on the latest Terrorism Law news and cases.
3y ago
Man Jailed for Sharing Terrorist Material
Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting for the Counter Terrorism Unit, successfully secured a custodial sentence for Adam Wyatt who was charged with …
Man Jailed for Sharing Terrorist Material Read More »
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Jonathan Sandiford
