12 June 2008
R v Ali [2008] All ER (D) 56 (Mar)
Where the defence of duress is raised, “the core question is whether the defendant voluntarily put himself in the position in which he foresaw or ought reasonably to have foreseen the risk of being subjected to any compulsion by threats of violence.
As a matter of fact, threats of violence will almost always be made by persons engaged in a criminal activity; but … it is the risk of being subjected to compulsion by threats of violence that must be foreseen or foreseeable that is relevant, rather than the nature of the activity in which the threatener is engaged” (Lord Justice Dyson at 12).
