Public Order Act 1986, s 4A

Intentional Harassment, Alarm, or Distress

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

What the law says

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he—(a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress. (2) An offence under this section may be committed in a public or a private place, except that no offence is committed where the words or behaviour are used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation is displayed, by a person inside a dwelling and the person who is harassed, alarmed or distressed is also inside that or another dwelling.

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

Points to prove

  • 1. used threatening/abusive/insulting words or behaviour OR
  • 2. used disorderly behaviour towards another person
  • 3. with intent to cause harassment/alarm/distress
  • 4. and actually caused harassment/alarm/distress
  • 5. displayed writing/sign/other visible representation
  • 6. causing harassment/alarm/distress
  • 7. with intent to cause harassment/alarm/distress

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

Summary — Summary: 6 months' imprisonment and/or a fine

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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