REGINA and ACKLES:CASE STUDY
REGINA and ACKLES
Mr Joshua Ackles, an accountant, had been engaging in online poker games for 6 months and found himself in significant debt. Unable to pay his mortgage, he approached Sidney Shackleton, a local businessman, who was known to provide short term loans. Mr Ackles asked to borrow £20,000 from Mr Shackleton to cover his debts. In return, Mr Shackleton asked Mr Ackles to look at his company accounts and prepare the annual accounting reports, detailing the assets and liabilities of the company. As the company was performing poorly, Mr Shackleton directed Mr Ackles to inflate the value of the company assets. Mr Shackleton made clear that if he did not do as he had been told his legs would be broken. Mr Ackles was then told that he must stay on the Shackleton estate to prepare the accounts as Mr Shackleton could not risk that he would go to the police. Mr Ackles called his family and told them that he had to travel to visit a client and would be away for a week. During that week, he stayed at the Shackleton estate and prepared the annual accounts as directed, making the company look much more successful than it was.
The fraud came to light and Mr Ackles was arrested and charged with an offence contrary to s.1 of the Fraud Act 2006.
At trial, Mr Ackles claimed that he feared that he would suffer serious bodily harm if he did not comply with the demands of Mr Shackleton. In this regard, he pleaded the defence of duress. The prosecution argued that Mr Ackles had associated with an individual engaged in criminal activity and, following R v Hasan [2005] 2 A.C. 467, the defence of duress must be withdrawn from the jury. The trial judge agreed, finding such an association existed, and withdrew the defence.
Mr Ackles was convicted by unanimous verdict of the jury of the offence contrary to s.4.
Mr Ackles appeals to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that his conviction is unsafe. In particular, Mr Ackles submits:
- The trial judge was wrong to withdraw the defence of duress from the jury. The defence should not be withdrawn when the alleged association was with someone who was not previously known to be criminal.
You are representing Mr Ackles who is appealing against his conviction on the ground outlined above. Please produce a maximum of two submissions, three authorities and summarise your legal arguments.
