Drafted in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in London, July 2005 the Terrorism Act 2006 was introduced that included an important section regarding the preparation of terrorist acts. Section 5 of the Act states: (1) A person commits an offence if, with the intention of: (a) committing acts of terrorism, or (b) assisting another to commit such acts, he engages in any conduct in preparation for giving effect to his intention. (2) It is irrelevant for the purposes of subsection (1) whether the intention and preparations relate to one or more particular acts of terrorism, acts of terrorism of a particular description or acts of terrorism generally. (3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. As the Court of Appeal observed in Iqbal and Iqbal [2010] EWCA Crim 3215, section 5 was enacted to extend the ambit of criminal law in the context of complicated acts of terrorism. As with most terrorism legislation enacted at Westminster, it applies to the whole of the UK not just England and Wales. An important aspect of section 5 is that where investigators gather evidence revealing a person may still be in a preparatory stage, it allows them to consider arresting a suspect at an early stage thereby assisting with the primary aim of counter-terrorism investigations, preventing a terrorist attack from occurring.
ORCID: 
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)