Mens rea

The mens rea is an important element of any crime because it relates to the need to determine whether the defendant held the sufficient state of mind to have the intent to commit the particular crime in question with the ‘guilty mind’. According to Allard v. Selfridge Ltd [1925] 1 KB 129 it relates to the idea that there is sufficient “criminal intention, or an intention to do the act which is made penal”, but it may also be said to include the recognition of an element of recklessness in relation to both circumstances and consequences that make up the actus reus, illustrated by Sweet v. Parsley [1970] AC 132.

Therefore, on this is basis, this is largely reflective of the fact that there are many different criminal offences recognised in domestic law within the legal system and so the mens rea also varies accordingly between these offences in terms of whether it is necessary to ‘have knowledge’ or to ‘act wilfully’.

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