Maxwell v DPP for Northern Ireland [1978] 3 All ER 1140

Defendant 2 was ordered by his organisation to guide Defendant 1 (in a following car) to a pub where RCs lived.

Defendant 1 placed a bomb in the pub which was defused but fulfilled the requirements of the offence of endangering people’s lives.

HL upheld Defendant 2’s conviction for aiding the offence.

• HL said that it was unnecessary to show that Defendant 2 knew the precise details of the offence, but it sufficed that Defendant 2 knew the type of offence to be committed or the essential matters constituting the offence.

• Given that Defendant 2’s organisation carried out armed attacks on RCs regularly he must have been aware of the type of offence, i.e. an armed attack.