Conspiracy theories

In brief

• What is a conspiracy?
• The structure of a conspiracy.
• Chain, wheel and umbrella conspiracies.
• The appeal in Johnson.

In the 1973 Court of Appeal case of R v Greenfield [1973] 1 WLR 1151, [1973] 3 All ER 1050 the then Lord Chief Justice observed: ‘Conspiracy charges have long been regarded with suspicion by English lawyers. The reasons lie partly in history and partly on procedural difficulties. There have been times in our history, as for example under Henry VIII and at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth when prosecutions for conspiracy were used by the Crown to stifle criticism and prevent agitation for religious, social and economic changes.’

Forty-seven years later, while concerns as to the conduct of Henry VII no longer feature prominently in criticisms of conspiracy indictments; procedural difficulties remain a constant difficulty. This was highlighted again by the