<P> Conspiracy is both a statutory and common law offence . In its statutory form, under the Criminal Law Act 1977, it consists of any agreement between two or more people to commit a criminal offence . Common law conspiracy, on the other hand, covers "conspiracy to defraud" and "conspiracy to corrupt public morals", although the latter has no substantive case law and is not seen as an offence that individuals are likely to be prosecuted for . All three inchoate offences require a mens rea of intent, and upon conviction, the defendant is sentenced as if they had succeeded in committing the attempted, incited or conspired crime in question . </P> <P> Inchoate means "just begun" or "undeveloped", and is used in English criminal law to refer to situations where, although a substantial offence has not been committed, the defendant has taken steps to commit it, or encouraged others to do so . These situations are generally divided into three categories; attempts, where the defendant has taken steps "towards carrying out a complete crime", incitement, where the defendant has encouraged others to commit a crime, and conspiracy, where the defendant has agreed with others to commit a crime . In each case, the defendant "has not himself performed the actus reus but is sufficiently close to doing so, or persuading others to do so, for the law to find it appropriate to punish him". </P> <P> Attempts are governed by the Criminal Attempts Act 1981, which states that "if, with intent to commit an offence to which (the act applies), a person does an act which is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence, he is guilty of attempting to commit the offence". A required element is intent, or mens rea . In R v Pearman, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales confirmed that the definition of intent in the 1981 Act is the same as the definition in the common law . The common law gives intention "its normal meaning: purpose or aim", with judges advised not to, in the majority of cases, attempt to complicate the definition . Conditional intent--where somebody has an intent to commit a crime only in certain circumstances--has also been deemed acceptable for an indictment for attempting a crime . In Attorney - General's Reference (Nos. 1 and 2 of 1979), the Court of Appeal explained that the intention to steal "anything that was worth stealing could form the basis of an attempt charge if the indictment was drafted carefully". This was a procedural solution to a previous apparent contradiction, but the suggested drafting may not demonstrate sufficient proximity between the defendant's actions and what he was planning to steal . A mens rea requirement is added to the attempt of crimes of strict liability (where there is no intent or merely objective recklessness), although the ruling in Attorney General's Reference (No. 3 of 1992) makes this less certain . </P> <P> Section 1 (1) also provides that the actus reus must be "more than merely preparatory". In practice, academic Jonathan Herring notes that "there is no hard and fast rule about when an act may be more than merely preparatory", although there are several cases which give broad guidance . In R v Geddes, a man entered the toilets in a school in Brighton with a large knife, some rope and a roll of masking tape; it was alleged that he was intending to kidnap a pupil . The Court of Appeal confirmed that this was not enough for a conviction . However, certain general rules have been laid down; if the defendant has committed the last act before completing his offence, it constitutes an attempt, as in R v Jones . This is not, however, necessary in all situations, as in R v Gullefer . The actus reus of the full offence is also taken into account; in R v Toothill, the defendant was charged with attempted burglary after trespassing into the victim's garden and knocking on their door . He was found guilty, because he had entered the property--the actus reus for burglary--and his actions were thus more than merely preparatory . The wording "does an act" prevents liability for omissions, a distinction that the Law Commission has looked to remove, at least in the case of attempted murder . </P>

Under the law the term 'knife' covers which three of these