Criminal Damage Act 1971, s 1(1)

Criminal Damage

The statutory wording, points to prove, defences and penalty — verified against legislation.gov.uk (current revised versions, July 2026).

What the law says

A person who without lawful excuse destroys or damages any property belonging to another intending to destroy or damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged shall be guilty of an offence.

CJS codes
Official CJS offence index (March 2026)
—Charged under the specific underlying offence code.

Points to prove

  • 1. without lawful excuse
  • 2. destroyed/damaged
  • 3. property to value of (specify value where known)
  • 4. intending to
  • 5. destroy/damage such property OR
  • 6. being reckless whether it was destroyed/damaged

Defences

  • No specific standalone defence was extracted from the source text; consider any applicable statutory defence, reasonable excuse, lawful authority, self-defence, necessity, consent, identification challenge, or other common-law defence on the facts.

Mode of trial & maximum penalty

Either way — Summary: Value below £5,000—3 months' imprisonment and/or a level 4 fine; Indictment: 10 years' imprisonment

Reference only — verify against current legislation and force policy before charge. Spotted an error? Tell us.

Sources

  • Verified dataset — legislation.gov.uk (current revised versions)

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