Public Order Offences UK: Affray, Section 4, 4A and 5

Public order offences in England and Wales are set out mainly in Part I of the Public Order Act 1986, a ladder running from riot (up to 10 years) through violent disorder (5 years), affray (3 years) and the section 4 and 4A offences (6 months) down to section 5 harassment, alarm or distress, which is punishable only by a fine of up to £1,000. Part I does not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland, which have their own offences covered below.

Where the Public Order Act 1986 applies

Section 42 of the Public Order Act 1986 says the Act extends to England and Wales. Only selected provisions reach further, and the main offences in sections 1 to 5 are not among them.

That means affray, violent disorder and the section 4, 4A and 5 offences are England and Wales offences. Scotland and Northern Ireland deal with similar behaviour through their own law, set out in separate sections below.

The Part I ladder at a glance

On fines: sections 4 and 4A refer to level 5 on the standard scale. Under section 85 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, a level 5 limit becomes a fine of any amount for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015. Level 3, which applies to section 5, remains £1,000 under section 122 of the Sentencing Act 2020.

For either-way offences such as affray and violent disorder, the Act still prints 6 months on summary conviction. For offences committed on or after 2 May 2022, section 282 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 reads that term as the general limit in a magistrates' court, which section 224 of the Sentencing Act 2020 sets at 12 months for an either-way offence from 18 November 2024. See magistrates' court vs Crown Court for how the venue is chosen.

Riot (section 1)

Riot requires 12 or more people present together who use or threaten unlawful violence for a common purpose. Their conduct, taken together, must be such that a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene would fear for their personal safety.

The common purpose can be inferred from conduct, and riot can be committed in private as well as in public. Under section 1(1), it is each person using unlawful violence for the common purpose who is guilty of riot; threatening violence alone is not enough for that person. The maximum is 10 years and riot can only be tried in the Crown Court.

Violent disorder (section 2)

Violent disorder applies where 3 or more people present together use or threaten unlawful violence, and their conduct taken together would cause a person of reasonable firmness to fear for their personal safety. They do not need to act at the same moment, and it can happen in private.

It is triable either way, with a maximum of 5 years in the Crown Court.

Affray (section 3)

Affray is committed by a person who uses or threatens unlawful violence towards another, where the conduct would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for their personal safety. Three features of the offence are often misunderstood:

• A threat cannot be made by the use of words alone (section 3(3)).
• No person of reasonable firmness needs to actually be present at the scene (section 3(4)).
• Affray can be committed in private as well as in public places (section 3(5)).

The maximum is 3 years in the Crown Court. Where the violence actually injures someone, other charges may apply; see assault, ABH and GBH. Carrying a bladed article or weapon raises separate offences covered on our knife laws page.

The mental element and intoxication

For riot, violent disorder and affray, section 6 requires that the person intended to use or threaten violence, or was aware that their conduct may be violent or threaten violence (for riot, only using violence counts).

Voluntary drunkenness does not help. Section 6(5) treats an intoxicated person as aware of what they would have been aware of if sober, unless they show that the intoxication was not self-induced or came from a substance taken solely for medical treatment.

Fear or provocation of violence (section 4)

Section 4 is committed by using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards another person, or distributing or displaying threatening, abusive or insulting writing, signs or images to them. The conduct must be intended to make that person believe immediate unlawful violence will be used against them or someone else, or to provoke immediate violence, or be likely to have either effect.

It can happen in public or private, but not where both people are inside a dwelling (the same or another one). It is triable only in the magistrates' court, with a maximum of 6 months, an unlimited fine or both.

Intentional harassment, alarm or distress (section 4A)

Section 4A requires an intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress. The person must use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or display threatening, abusive or insulting writing, signs or images, and thereby actually cause that person or another harassment, alarm or distress.

As with section 4, no offence is committed where both people are inside a dwelling. The maximum is 6 months, an unlimited fine or both, and it is triable only in the magistrates' court.

Harassment, alarm or distress (section 5)

Section 5 is the lowest rung. It covers threatening or abusive words or behaviour, disorderly behaviour, or displaying threatening or abusive writing, signs or images, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.

Two differences from section 4A matter. No intent to cause distress is needed, and nobody has to actually be distressed: it is enough that someone in hearing or sight was likely to be.

Since 1 February 2014, section 5 no longer includes insulting conduct; the Crime and Courts Act 2013 left only threatening or abusive. Sections 4 and 4A still include insulting. The penalty is a fine of up to level 3, £1,000, with no power to imprison.

Defences to section 4A and section 5

Both sections give the defendant statutory defences, which the defendant has to prove.

Section 4 has no equivalent list of defences; the dwelling rule in section 4(2) stops the offence arising in the first place. Whether conduct was reasonable is decided on the facts by the court.

Racially and religiously aggravated versions

Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 creates racially or religiously aggravated forms of the section 4, 4A and 5 offences, with higher maximums.

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 contains changes to these offences. Section 145 would extend aggravation to hostility based on disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity (and, for the section 4 and section 5 versions, sex), and sections 146 and 147 would create new public order offences against emergency workers. As of 25 October 2026 these provisions are enacted but not yet in force, so the current offences are as described above.

Sentencing Council guidelines

The Sentencing Council's public order guidelines took effect on 1 January 2020. Each sets a culpability level (A highest) and a harm category (1 highest), with a starting point and range.

For affray, the offence range runs from a fine to 2 years 9 months:

For the summary offences, the starting points are lower:

Sources: s.4 guideline, s.4A guideline and s.5 guideline. Fine bands are set by weekly income: Band A is 50%, Band B 100% and Band C 150% of relevant weekly income. For the aggravated section 5 offence, the guideline multiplies the fine by 1.5, 2 or 2.5 depending on the level of aggravation.

Drunk and disorderly

In England and Wales, being drunk and guilty of disorderly behaviour in a public place is an offence under section 91 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967. A public place includes any highway and any premises the public can access, whether or not they pay. The penalty is a fine of up to level 3, £1,000, with no prison.

Both drunk and disorderly and section 5 are listed in section 1 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 as offences that can be dealt with by a penalty notice for disorder. The Sentencing Council's penalty notice table gives £90 for each. Our page on fixed penalty notices explains what paying one means, including the Northern Ireland scheme.

Protest offences: the Public Order Act 2023

The Public Order Act 2023 added protest-related offences, including locking on, tunnelling and interfering with key national infrastructure, plus serious disruption prevention orders. Since 29 June 2026 the Crime and Policing Act 2026 has added further offences in England and Wales that bear on protests, including concealing identity in a locality police have designated around a protest, possessing a pyrotechnic article while taking part in a protest, and climbing on specified memorials. The locking-on offence has been in force since 3 May 2023, and the related suspicionless stop and search power since 20 December 2023; see our page on stop and search.

Scotland: breach of the peace and section 38

None of the Part I offences applies in Scotland, so there is no Scottish affray or section 5 offence. Two charges do most of the work.

Breach of the peace is a common-law crime. The Scottish Government's crime recording standard describes it as conduct in a riotous or disorderly manner severe enough to cause significant alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community. It needs a public element.

Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 covers behaving in a threatening or abusive manner that would be likely to cause a reasonable person fear or alarm, where the person intends that or is reckless about it. It can be a single act or a course of conduct and, unlike breach of the peace, needs no public element. It is a defence to show the behaviour was reasonable in the circumstances.

The maximum for section 38 is 5 years, a fine or both on indictment, or 12 months, a fine up to the statutory maximum or both on summary conviction. Scotland has no drunk and disorderly offence as such. The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, section 115 covers a drunk person behaving in a disorderly manner on relevant premises, with a fine of up to level 3, up to 60 days in prison, or both.

Northern Ireland: common-law affray and the 1987 Order

Part I of the 1986 Act does not extend to Northern Ireland either. The Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 contains no offence of riot, violent disorder or affray as such, although article 18(3) makes using riotous behaviour in a public place an offence (on summary conviction, up to 12 months, a level 5 fine or both).

Its Part IV also includes article 18(1), disorderly behaviour or behaviour likely to occasion a breach of the peace in a public place (up to 6 months, a level 5 fine or both), and article 19, provocative conduct: threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in a public place or at a public meeting or procession, with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or where one is likely (also up to 6 months, a level 5 fine or both).

Affray remains a common-law offence in Northern Ireland. As the Court of Appeal said in R v Murray [2015] NICA 54, quoted in a Crown Court sentencing decision, affray there is an offence against the common law, the maximum penalty for which is life imprisonment.

Public order offences and your criminal record

On a standard or enhanced DBS certificate, the DBS filtering guide says an adult conviction for a non-specified offence is filtered once 11 years have passed, provided no custodial sentence (including a suspended one) was given. An adult caution is filtered after 6 years.

The DBS list of offences that are never filtered includes riot, violent disorder and affray under the 1986 Act, common-law riot and affray, and the racially or religiously aggravated section 4 and 4A offences. The ordinary section 4, 4A and 5 offences and drunk and disorderly are not on it.

A penalty notice is not a conviction. When convictions become spent for other purposes is covered on our spent convictions and DBS check pages.

Getting help

Anyone questioned by police about a public order offence can get free legal advice at the police station from the duty solicitor. See our pages on being arrested and criminal legal aid, and the wider UK criminal law hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is affray?

Under section 3 of the Public Order Act 1986, a person commits affray if they use or threaten unlawful violence towards another and their conduct would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for their personal safety. A threat cannot be made by words alone, nobody of reasonable firmness needs to actually be present, and it can happen in private. It applies in England and Wales.

What is the maximum sentence for affray?

Affray is triable either way. The maximum in the Crown Court is 3 years' imprisonment. Although the Act still prints 6 months for summary conviction, magistrates sentencing on or after 18 November 2024 can impose up to 12 months for a single either-way offence committed on or after 2 May 2022.

What is the difference between section 4, 4A and 5 public order offences?

Section 4 involves threatening, abusive or insulting conduct aimed at making someone believe immediate unlawful violence will be used, or provoking it. Section 4A requires intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress and that someone is actually caused it. Section 5 only requires threatening or abusive conduct within the hearing or sight of someone likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, with no intent needed.

Can you go to prison for a section 5 public order offence?

No. Section 5 is punishable only by a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale, which is £1,000. The racially or religiously aggravated version carries a fine of up to £2,500. The basic section 5 offence can also be dealt with by a £90 penalty notice in England and Wales; the aggravated version is not a penalty notice offence.

Is drunk and disorderly a criminal offence?

Yes. In England and Wales, being drunk and guilty of disorderly behaviour in a public place is an offence under section 91 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967, punishable by a fine of up to £1,000 with no prison. It is commonly dealt with by a £90 penalty notice for disorder. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different drunkenness offences.

Does Scotland have affray or section 5 offences?

No. Part I of the Public Order Act 1986 does not extend to Scotland. Similar behaviour is usually charged as common-law breach of the peace or as threatening or abusive behaviour under section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, which carries up to 5 years on indictment.

Will a public order conviction show on a DBS check?

Convictions for riot, violent disorder, affray and the racially or religiously aggravated s.4 and s.4A offences are on the list of offences that are never filtered, so they always appear on standard and enhanced certificates. Ordinary s.4, s.4A, s.5 and drunk and disorderly convictions can be filtered after 11 years for an adult, provided no custodial sentence was given.