A. Public Order Offense - making a threat in a public environment, verbal abuse and harassment

Verbal abuse and harassment in public | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)

1. These offenses contrary to the Public Order Act 1986 relate to threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or display of visible representations, which:
   

• Are likely to cause fear of, or to provoke, immediate violence: section 4;
• Intentionally cause harassment, alarm or distress: section 4A; or
• Are likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress (threatening or abusive words or behaviour only): section 5.

1. It is a defence to section 4A and section 5 for the accused to demonstrate that their conduct was reasonable, which must be interpreted in accordance with the freedom of expression and other freedoms.
   
   

B. Common Assault - pushing someone against their wishes is not to be tolerated, especially by someone in the business community

Offences against the Person, incorporating the Charging Standard | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)

An assault is any act (and not mere omission to act) by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to suffer or apprehend immediate unlawful violence.

The term assault is often used to include a battery, which is committed by the intentional or reckless application of unlawful force to another person. Where there is a battery, the defendant should be charged with ‘assault by beating’: DPP v Little [1992] QB 645. Provided there has been an intentional or reckless application of unlawful force the offence will have been committed, however slight the force.

Assault, as distinct from battery, can be committed by an act indicating an intention to use unlawful violence against the person of another – for example, an aimed punch that fails to connect. In Misalati [2017] EWCA 2226 the appellant spat towards the complainant. The appeal court confirmed that although there was no actual violence, spitting is an assault whether it makes contact with the victim or causes fear of immediate unlawful physical contact.

Guidance on potential defences is set out in the separate legal guidance Self-defence and the Prevention of Crime. A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances for the purposes of:

• self-defence

C. Grievous Bodily Harm

Offences against the Person, incorporating the Charging Standard | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)

Unlawful wounding/inflicting GBH – s.20 and wounding/causing GBH with intent – s.18

The words "grievous bodily harm" bear their ordinary meaning of "really serious" harm: DPP v Smith [1960] 3 W.L.R. 546. Golding [2014] EWCA Crim 889 indicates that harm does not have to be either permanent or dangerous and that ultimately, the assessment of harm done is a matter for the jury, applying contemporary social standards. Further, there is no necessity for an assault to have been committed before there could be an infliction of GBH

The distinction between s18 and s20 is one of mens rea:

• The prosecution must prove under section 20 that either the defendant intended, or actually foresaw, that the act might cause some harm. It is not necessary to prove that the defendant either intended or foresaw that the unlawful act might cause physical harm of the gravity described in section 20. It is enough that the defendant foresaw some physical harm to some person, albeit of a minor character might result: R v Savage; DPP v Parmenter [1992] 1 AC 699.
• The prosecution must prove under section 18 that the defendant intended to wound and/or cause grievous bodily harm, and nothing less than an intention to produce that result, which in fact materialised, will suffice. A person ‘intends’ to cause a result if he/she consciously acts in order to bring it about. Factors that may indicate specific intent include a repeated or planned attack, deliberate selection of a weapon or adaptation of an article to cause injury, such as breaking a glass before an attack, making prior threats or using an offensive weapon against, or kicking, the victim’s head. The gravity of the injury may be the same for section 20 or 18 although the gravity may indicate the intention of the defendant.

The maximum sentence for section 20 is five years’ imprisonment. For section 18 it is life imprisonment. Intent may often be a trial issue where section 18 is charged, and will often rely on inference, but proof by inference is proof nonetheless, and where there is sufficient evidence for a jury to be sure of this intention this should be left to a jury.

Sentencing for sections 18, 20 and 47 will result in different likely sentences and so pleas to lesser offences should not be accepted unless there has been a change in circumstances or further evidence that changes the level of harm.

It is not possible to attempt to commit a section 20 GBH offence. An attempt to cause GBH should be charged as attempted section 18 because, as a matter of law, if suspects attempt to cause really serious harm they must necessarily intend to do so. Similarly, if suspects attempt to cause a serious wound of a kind that would clearly amount to GBH the offence would be attempted section 18.

It is appropriate to charge an attempted offence where the evidence demonstrates that the suspect intended to cause an injury that is substantially more serious than that (if any) which was in fact caused.

An offence contrary to section 18 may also be committed where the victim is wounded or caused grievous bodily harm in the course of the defendant resisting or preventing the lawful apprehension of any person. This offence may be used where the injuries amount to grievous bodily harm or injury but where the intention to resist or prevent a lawful apprehension is clearer than the intent to cause a wound or grievous bodily harm.