Commentary First Group of Parts – Discipline Criminal conduct Section 43: Attempting criminal conduct
123.Under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981, an attempt is a criminal offence under the law of England and Wales only if it is an attempt to do an act which, if done, would be an indictable offence under that law (other than certain excluded offences). As it stands, this would mean that a person subject to service law commits no offence under section 42 unless his intention is to do an act which, if done, would in fact be an indictable offence under English law. This requirement would not normally be satisfied if the intended act would have been done outside England and Wales. This section modifies the 1981 Act so that it is sufficient for an offence under section 42 if the intended act would be an indictable offence (other than the excluded offences) if it were done in England or Wales. It is immaterial that it would in fact have been done outside England and Wales.