Facts
In Collins v Wilcock (1984), Defendant was charged with assaulting a police officer, the Plaintiff, following a scuffle between them. Plaintiff had seen Defendant with another woman, who was known to be a prostitute, and attempted to question Defendant by holding Defendant’s arm.
Issue
The issue was whether Plaintiff’s action of holding Defendant’s arm to detain her was an unlawful assault.
Holding
The Queen’s Bench Division held that P’s conduct was unlawful. Even though Plaintiff intended to carry out a cautioning procedure, the act of detaining Defendant by holding her arm went beyond what was generally acceptable in terms of engaging someone’s attention.
Therefore, Defendant’s conviction for assaulting Plaintiff (by scratching Plaintiff’s arm) was quashed, as Plaintiff was not acting in the course of her duty when she detained Defendant.
