GBH vs ABH

[daffy654]

Can someone please tell me what is the difference between the two charges of GBH and ABH?
Which would be considered the most serious?

[hc4361]

Grievous bodily harm is more serious than actual bodily harm.

[mollykins]

I may be corrected but, actual bodily harm is jsut cuts and bruises and possibly minor dislocations like an elbow that can be fixed easily.

Grevious bodily harm is probably where you're knocked out, bones are broken and serious dislocations . . .

[ABerrant]

Actual bodily harm includes any hurt calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the victim: such hurt need not be permanent, but must be more than transient and trifling.

e.g.
• loss or breaking of tooth or teeth;
• temporary loss of sensory functions, which may include loss of consciousness;
• extensive or multiple bruising;
• displaced broken nose;
• minor fractures;
• minor, but not merely superficial, cuts of a sort probably requiring medical treatment (e.g. stitches).

Grievous bodily harm means serious bodily harm.
e.g.
• injury resulting in permanent disability or permanent loss of sensory function;
• injury which results in more than minor permanent, visible disfigurement; broken or displaced limbs or bones, including fractured skull;
• compound fractures, broken cheek bone, jaw, ribs, etc;
• injuries which cause substantial loss of blood, usually necessitating a transfusion;
• injuries resulting in lengthy treatment or incapacity.

http://www.cps.gov.uk...s_against_the_person/

[daffy654]

Thanks for the answers and information. I was of the opinion that GBH was the worse crime but a reply to an article on today's daily mail website made me wonder if i'd been wrong all these years.

http://www.dailymail....ought-unemployed.html

[ABerrant]

The reply to the article has clearly been made by someone with no clue to the relative seriousness of specific offences against the person and was itself a response to another reply which did not fully understand that guilt was found on two charges, Wounding and ABH, where Wounding is equivalent to GBH with Intent.