Possession of an offensive weapon is a criminal offence in England and Wales where a person has an offensive weapon with them in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. The main public-place offence is section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953.
The offence is separate from the offence of having a bladed or sharply pointed article in public under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The two can overlap, but they are not identical.
Legal Basis
Section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 makes it an offence for a person, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, to have an offensive weapon with them in a public place.
An offensive weapon is an article made for use for causing injury, adapted for use for causing injury, or intended by the person having it with them for use in causing injury.
Types of Offensive Weapon
The usual categories are:
- Weapons made for causing injury, such as a truncheon or knuckle-duster.
- Ordinary items adapted for causing injury, such as a bottle deliberately broken for use as a weapon.
- Ordinary items carried with the intention of causing injury, such as a screwdriver carried to stab someone.
The third category is often the most fact-sensitive because the article may have innocent uses.
Having It With Them
The prosecution does not always need to prove that the person was holding the item. An article may be "with" a person if it is nearby, under their control, or immediately accessible. A weapon under a car seat, in a bag, or within reach may satisfy this element depending on the facts.
Knowledge matters. A person cannot normally have an item with them for this offence if they genuinely do not know it is there, although the court may test that account against the evidence.
Public Place
A public place includes a highway and other premises or places to which the public have or are permitted to have access. Streets, shops, pubs, stations, parks, shopping centres, and other public-facing places may qualify.
Private land can still become relevant to other offences, but the section 1 Prevention of Crime Act 1953 offence is focused on public places.
Lawful Authority and Reasonable Excuse
Lawful authority is narrow. It can cover people who carry weapons as part of lawful duty, such as certain police or military contexts.
Reasonable excuse depends on the facts. A tradesperson transporting tools to a job may have a reasonable explanation for items that could otherwise be used as weapons. A person carrying an item because of a general fear of attack usually has a much weaker position. CPS guidance treats a constant or general threat as insufficient for self-defence, but an imminent and specific threat may be different where the timing and purpose are closely connected.
The defendant has the legal burden of establishing lawful authority or reasonable excuse on the balance of probabilities once the prosecution proves the main elements.
Relationship With Bladed Articles
The Criminal Justice Act 1988 offence for bladed or sharply pointed articles does not require proof of an intention to cause injury. It asks whether the article has a blade or point and whether the person has good reason or lawful authority.
An ordinary folding pocket knife with a cutting edge of 3 inches or less is excluded from section 139, provided it is genuinely folding and non-locking. That exclusion does not make every use of the knife lawful. If the same knife is carried with intent to cause injury, it may still be alleged to be an offensive weapon.
Practical Examples
Work Tool
A builder carries a hammer and utility knife from a van to a site. The tools can cause injury, but the work context may explain why they are being carried.
Planned Fight
A person takes the same hammer to meet someone for a fight. The item may become an intended offensive weapon because of the purpose for which it is carried.
General Protection
A person carries a kitchen knife on a night out because they are worried they might be attacked at some point. That is unlikely to be a reasonable excuse.
Immediate Threat
A person picks up an object during an immediate attack and uses reasonable force to escape. That is a different situation from carrying a weapon around in advance for general protection. The facts, timing, and proportionality matter.
Tactical Clothing and Lawful Items
Black clothing, a ballistic vest, a face covering, or tactical-style clothing does not itself create the offence. The court still needs to consider the object carried, the location, the person's knowledge, and the alleged intention or excuse.
Charging and Sentencing
The offence is serious because it concerns weapons in public places. The maximum sentence has been increased by later legislation, and repeat weapons cases can attract minimum sentence provisions in some circumstances. Prosecutors also consider whether a more specific charge is available, such as threatening with a weapon, possession of a bladed article, or possession of a prohibited weapon.
See Also
- Offensive weapon
- Bladed articles
- Folding pocket knife
- Prevention of Crime Act 1953
- Criminal Justice Act 1988
- Self-defence in English law
References
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