Member

Amendment 382B from the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, seeks to amend the operation of the lawful excuse requirement under Section 5 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971. I hope I can be helpful by explaining that the requirement is part of the various offences of criminal damage. It is already limited so that a person is automatically treated as having a lawful excuse only under two specific circumstances. The first is that the defendant honestly believes that the person who was entitled to consent to the damage has given consent or would have consented if they knew of the circumstances. That might seem convoluted, but, for example, it could be the honest belief that the owner of a car in which a child was locked on a hot day consented or would have consented to the defendant smashing the window to get the child out. That is an example I just wish to place before the Committee.