ABH and GBH

[Dr Jekyll]

At what point does bodily harm become grievous as opposed to just actual? For example is a broken bone fracture necessarily grievous?

[anonymous-user]

Best bet is to look at this page: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/offences_agains...

I'm not sure how accurate / up-to-date this site is (it looks fine) but it links back to the above page: https://queensburylaw.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/...

[paintman]

I've always understood GBH to be taken as 'really serious injury'.
CPS guidelines here: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/offences_agains... which includes some examples and the quote below:

"For all other cases, it is the level of injuries and the likely sentence that are crucial. In simple terms, Parliament has determined that there should be separate offences reflecting three levels of injury - Common Assault, ABH and GBH.
As a starting point, where there is no injury or injuries which are not serious, the offence charged should generally be Common Assault. Where there is serious injury and the likely sentence is clearly more than six months' imprisonment the offence charged should generally be ABH. And where there is really serious injury the offence charged should generally be GBH."

Edited by paintman on Sunday 22 November 16:12