... had written 800 letters and made a number of phone calls to the victim. The victim interpreted the last two letters as clear threats. The CA held that there was an assault, as there was fear of violence at some time, 'not excluding the immediate future'. It must be proven that the threat of unlawful force would take place almost immediately. This can be seen in Smith v Constable of Woking Police Station (1983) where the defendant appeared in the Victim's garden and stared at her. The victim was in a nightdress and become terrified of what the defendant would do next. Despite the window being closed, and therefore it would time to get into her house, such an assault satisfied the definition under common law, of causing 'immediate' unlawful violence. In this case court found that the victim's state of mind was not only terror but terror of some ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now