criminal-law united-kingdom
Joint Enterprise and Witness Intimidation in UK
<p>(For MOOT case). An accused burglar is currently in an ongoing criminal trial. The accused burglar tells his friend details about the person who accused them. The friend, after hearing about the allegations the accuser has made against the burglar, intimidates the accuser about the allegations. Can the burglar be tried for joint enterprise . What is the burden of proof for this ?</p>

<h2>Not on those facts</h2>
<p>If, as you say, the accused merely identified the witness and said (unflattering) things about them in a private conversation then they have committed no crime. In most cases, the names of witnesses are not secret and unless the court has issued an order to keep a witness’ identity secret (which would be almost unheard of in a simple burglary case) the accused can exercise his freedom of expression to talk privately about the witness with whoever they want. If the talk publicly about a case that is sub judice then they may be committing contempt of court.</p>
<p>If they asked, conspired with or otherwise incited their friend to take action against the witness, then they have committed a crime. However, if the friend, on their own initiative takes criminal action, that does not make the accused actions criminal.</p>
