Threatening with a Bladed Article or Offensive Weapon (Section 139AA Criminal Justice Act 1988)

Threatening with a Bladed Article or Offensive Weapon is an offence under s.139AA Criminal Justice Act 1988. A person is guilty of the offence if that person has an article to which the section applies with him or her in a public place or on school premises, unlawfully and intentionally threatens another person (A) with the article, and does so in such a way that a reasonable person (B) who was exposed to the same threat as A would think that there was an immediate risk of physical harm to B (s.139AA(1)); s.139AA(1A) creates the same offence on further education premises. In a public place the section applies to an article to which s.139 applies (s.139AA(2)); on school premises and further education premises it applies to such an article and to an offensive weapon within the meaning of s.1 Prevention of Crime Act 1953 (s.139AA(3) and (3A)). Maximum sentence: on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or a fine, or both; on summary conviction, imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates' court (12 months for an offence triable either way, Sentencing Act 2020, s.224(1A)(b)) or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both (s.139AA(6)). Section 139AA(6A) points to section 312 of the Sentencing Code for the sentence a court may be required to impose where a person aged 16 or over is convicted under the section, and a person found not guilty under this section may be convicted of an offence under s.139 or s.139A if that offence is proved (s.139AA(12)).

In practice

This is an either-way offence: it may be tried at the magistrates' court or the Crown Court. Mode of trial depends on the seriousness and the defendant's election. The suspect must be cautioned in accordance with Code C PACE 1984 before any questions about the offence are put to them. Interviews must be audio-recorded (Code E) or, for indictable offences, may be visually recorded (Code F).