Explosive Substances Act 1883
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Act of Parliament | |
Status: Amended | |
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Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Revised text of statute as amended |
The Explosive Substances Act 1883 (
Under the act, it is also an offence, subject to imprisonment for life, to possess explosives under suspicious circumstances.[1]
Anyone who helps someone to commit a crime under this law by providing money, materials, premises, or any other assistance is tried and punished as severely as the person who actually uses the explosives.
The act applies to people within the territorial extent of the United Kingdom as well as to citizens of the United Kingdom acting within the Republic of Ireland.
Witnesses who are called during the official investigation or the trial can be arrested to prevent them from absconding and do not have the right of silence to protect themselves from self-incrimination. On the other hand, self-incriminating evidence from a witness cannot be used in a different criminal or civil proceeding.
Applications of this act
Any instance of terrorism involving any kind of bomb is necessarily a crime under Explosive Substances Act 1883 (as well as being a crime under the law against attempted murder). In fact, for many decades the Explosive Substances Act was the basis for the prosecution of terrorist cases, such as S-Plan in 1939, the Birmingham Six in 1975, Tony Lecomber in 1985, and the Talbot Street bomb-making haul in 2006.
Since 2000, there has been a series of special
The terrorism acts have been applied in the cases such as the
A recent use of the Act was against Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, who became the first person charged over the London and Glasgow car bomb attacks in 2007. Abdullah, who was arrested after a flaming Jeep was driven into the doors of the arrivals hall at Glasgow Airport. The 27-year-old, who was working as a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland, before his arrest, was charged with conspiring to cause explosions under the Explosive Substances Act. The charge alleges he "unlawfully and maliciously conspired with others to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the United Kingdom".
In April 2015, Faris al-Khori, a former Syrian doctor, was jailed for 40 months under the Explosives Substances Act for possessing explosive ingredients and bomb-making instructions in properties in Edinburgh.[1]
References
External links
- The full text of Explosive Substances Act, 1883 at Wikisource
- Text of the Explosive Substances Act 1883 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.