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R v Coles (1995)

Last modified: Thu Feb 23 16:37:37 2006

This case ([1995] 1 Cr App Rep 157) is a relatively recent confirmation of the case of ElliotVC1983. In the earlier case a girl recklessly set fire to a shed and was charged with arson, despite being only 14 years old. In this case, Coles set fire to a haystack, again in an act of recklessness. Despite his being of less than average intelligence, the Court of Appeal held that the test for whether a risk was `obvious' was whether it was obvious to an ordinary person. No allowance was made for the specific condition of the accused. In RVReid1992 it had been ruled that a reasonable person could overlook an obvious risk if, for example, he was suddenly distracted, but this was not the case here.

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