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Section 7: Procedure: miscellaneous

Public Order Act 1986 (1986 c. 64)

(1) No prosecution for an offence of riot or incitement to riot may be instituted except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(2) For the purposes of the rules against charging more than one offence in the same count or information, each of sections 1 to 5 creates one offence.

(3) If on the trial on indictment of a person charged with violent disorder or affray the jury find him not guilty of the offence charged, they may (without prejudice to section 6(3) of the Criminal Law Act 1967) find him guilty of an offence under section 4.

(4) The Crown Court has the same powers and duties in relation to a person who is by virtue of subsection (3) convicted before it of an offence under section 4 as a magistrates’ court would have on convicting him of the offence.

Reproduced from legislation.gov.uk as captured on 2026-10-04. Statute is amended over time — check the source below for the version in force. This is a reference, not legal advice.
View s.7 on legislation.gov.uk

Source: legislation.gov.uk, Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0.