Sheriff controversially rules that screwdrivers are NOT bladed or sharply pointed

Lawman Joseph Hughes rejected an argument from the Crown that such a ruling would make the carrying of screwdrivers as potential weapons 'more commonplace'.

The sheriff threw out an indictment case against a man who was charged with possession of a flat headed screwdriver in Greenock at nearly 1am whilst on a night-time bail curfew to be at his home.

He upheld a submission by defence lawyer Gerry Keenan who successfully argued that screwdrivers do not meet the bladed or sharply pointed description 'as a matter of law'.

Sheriff Hughes ruled: "I therefore find that the screwdriver, in this case, does not fall within the definition of an article which has a blade or is sharply pointed."

Solicitor Mr Keenan had called for a legal debate after his client, Michael Docherty, was charged with having a screwdriver within a common close on Sir Michael Street on March 19 last year.

The Crown prosecuted Docherty under section 49 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act which prohibits possession of bladed or sharply pointed items without reasonable excuse.

Mr Keenan said: "My submission is that it was never intended that that type of article should fall within the terms of section 49."

Senior procurator fiscal depute David McDonald countered: "This isn't a man who has been found with a screwdriver in a toolbox or a tool belt.

"It was found on his person, at 12.55am with it sticking out of his jeans pocket."

Mr Keenan responded: "The circumstances in which it was found do not matter if it is determined that it is not sharply pointed in terms of the legislation."

Prosecutor Mr McDonald stated: "The logical conclusion of this would be to permit the carrying or potentially lethal weapons.

"My respectful submission is that a screwdriver matches both tests, that it has a blade and is sharply pointed."

Mr McDonald stated that interchangeable screwdriver 'blades' can be purchased on the internet and urged the court to 'look to the harm that could be done' by screwdrivers, arguing that the primary purpose to the legislation is to protect the public.

But Sheriff Hughes repelled the Crown's submissions in their entirety.

He pointed to English case law — which had been arrived at through almost identical legislation as in Scotland — after neither Mr Keenan nor Mr McDonald could find any Scottish case law relating to a screwdriver and a section 49 prosecution.

The sheriff noted that it had been agreed that the screwdriver in the English case was not sharply pointed.

Mr Keenan and Mr McDonald agreed that the screwdriver in the case before Sheriff Hughes was flat headed with a 'wedge-shaped flat tip' with a metal section of around 4.5 inches.

Sheriff Hughes said: "I have concluded that the dictum in Davis [the English case] is sound and in my opinion logical.

"I have concluded that it is not appropriate to conclude that this wedge-shaped flat headed screwdriver should be covered by the terms of section 49.

"To allow this screwdriver, in this particular case, to fall within the terms of Section 49 would give the section an extremely wide ambit."

The sheriff said he agreed with Lord Justice Buxton, who ruled in the English case in 1998, when he stated: "The test cannot be...whether the article is capable of causing injury.

"If that were the test there would be no need and no justification to do what parliament has specifically done, and limit the section to bladed items and sharp instruments.

"If the objective was to outlaw the carrying of all items capable of causing injury there would be no explanation at all why there was a limitation to articles which happen to have something that could be described as a blade."

Accused Docherty now only faces one charge on indictment of breaching a 7pm to 7am curfew by allegedly being in Greenock.

The case is due to call again on November 9.

The Crown has been granted leave to appeal Sheriff Hughes' screwdriver ruling.