A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit a criminal offence. In England and Wales it is a crime in its own right, under section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. The agreement is the offence. It is complete as soon as the agreement is made, even if nothing is ever done to carry it out.
It is charged where several people are said to have planned a crime together, from drug supply to fraud, robbery or murder. It can only be tried in the Crown Court. The maximum sentence is the same as for the offence agreed to. The court sentences using the guideline for that offence, and places each person by their own role.
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In brief: conspiracy at a glance
| The law | Criminal Law Act 1977, s.1. Conspiracy to defraud, and to corrupt public morals or outrage public decency, survive at common law |
| What must be proved | You agreed with at least one other person to a course of conduct that would necessarily involve an offence, and you intended it to be carried out |
| Does anything need to happen? | No. The offence is complete once the agreement is made |
| Court | Crown Court only |
| Maximum sentence | The same as the offence agreed to, so life where that offence carries life. Conspiracy to defraud: 10 years |
| How it is sentenced | No separate guideline. The court uses the guideline for the offence agreed to, and your role |
| Police station advice | Free for everyone, 24 hours a day |
What the prosecution has to prove
- An agreement. No meeting, handshake or written plan is needed. It is usually inferred from what people said and did. People can join later, and need not all know each other.
- To commit an offence. Carried out as intended, the plan must involve a crime. Talking about a crime is not enough, and neither is knowing that someone else is planning one.
- Intention. You must have intended the agreement to be carried out. Where the offence depends on a particular fact, such as goods being stolen, you and at least one other party must intend or know that the fact will exist (s.1(2)).
- Impossibility is no answer. The agreement still counts if the crime could never have succeeded, for example because the "drugs" were not drugs at all (s.1(1)(b)).
Who cannot be guilty. You cannot conspire to commit an offence of which you are the intended victim. Nor is it a conspiracy if the only other parties are your spouse or civil partner, a child under 10 or an intended victim (s.2).
If the others are acquitted, that does not automatically clear you. Your conviction can stand unless it is inconsistent with theirs (s.5(8)).
Statutory and common law conspiracy
The 1977 Act abolished conspiracy at common law (s.5(1)), with two exceptions:
- Conspiracy to defraud: an agreement to defraud someone dishonestly. It can reach conduct that would not be a crime if one person did it alone, and carries up to 10 years (Criminal Justice Act 1987, s.12). Attorney General guidance asks prosecutors to consider statutory offences, such as those in the Fraud Act 2006, first. See fraud solicitors.
- Conspiracy to corrupt public morals or outrage public decency, where the conduct would not be an offence if done by one person (s.5(3)). These charges are rare.
Conspiracy, attempt, encouraging and joint enterprise
| What it is | Law | Key point | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conspiracy | An agreement between two or more people to commit an offence | Criminal Law Act 1977, s.1 | Complete on agreement. Needs at least two people |
| Attempt | Doing something "more than merely preparatory" to an offence, intending to commit it | Criminal Attempts Act 1981, s.1 | Needs a step beyond planning. There is no offence of attempting to conspire |
| Encouraging or assisting | Doing something capable of encouraging or assisting an offence | Serious Crime Act 2007, ss.44–46 | One person can commit it. There is a defence of acting reasonably (s.50) |
| Secondary liability ("joint enterprise") | Helping or encouraging an offence someone else actually commits | Accessories and Abettors Act 1861, s.8 | Since R v Jogee [2016] UKSC 8, foreseeing that someone might commit a crime is evidence of intent, not proof of it |
CPS guidance says conspiracy may be charged where there is no completed offence, or too little evidence that a person took part in one, but an agreement can be inferred. The trade-off is that the prosecution must prove you were part of the agreement it has charged.
How the prosecution proves an agreement
Agreements are rarely written down, so the jury is usually asked to infer one from circumstantial evidence:
- Phone evidence: contact between the accused, who used which phone, and cell site evidence of where a phone was.
- Messages, including from encrypted platforms. The Court of Appeal has ruled that EncroChat material can be used as evidence (R v A, B, D & C [2021] EWCA Crim 128).
- Surveillance, money and documents: observations, CCTV, vehicle movements, payments and records.
- What the others said or did. Statements made by one party in pursuit of the common plan can be admissible against the others (Criminal Justice Act 2003, s.118).
Conspiracy is usually charged as happening "between" two dates. A long list of contacts can look damning, but it does not prove what was agreed, or that you agreed to it.
What happens in a conspiracy case
- Arrest, often of several people at once, with searches and phones seized.
- Interview under caution. Advice is free. Do not be interviewed without a solicitor. Police often reveal only part of their evidence, and your solicitor will advise you how to approach the interview. See police station representation.
- Bail or release under investigation while phones and surveillance are analysed, often for months.
- Charge by the CPS, often of many people at once.
- First hearing in the magistrates' court, which sends the case straight to the Crown Court. Bail or remand is decided.
- Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing. The evidence can run to thousands of pages, and disclosure of unused material is a major part of the work.
- Trial, which can last weeks or months. The jury must consider each person's case separately.
- Sentence, then confiscation if you are convicted.
Large cases commonly take more than a year from arrest to trial.
How conspiracy charges are defended
- No agreement. Friendship, family ties, being in the same place or regular contact are not an agreement. The prosecution must prove you joined the plan.
- No knowledge. You may have been involved without knowing what the plan was. If the prosecution cannot prove you knew, you are not guilty.
- Not the agreement charged. Being part of a smaller, separate arrangement is not the same as joining the larger conspiracy on the indictment.
- Attribution. Much of the case may depend on proving that a phone, handle or account was yours, and that you sent the messages.
- Admissibility and disclosure: how evidence was obtained, and what unused material helps you.
- Role. If you are convicted or plead guilty, showing that your part was limited can make a large difference to the sentence.
What is not a defence. It is no answer that the plan failed, never started or could never have worked. Because the offence is complete on agreement, pulling out later does not undo it, though it can matter for sentence and for any offence the others go on to commit. In practice, most defendants in multi-handed cases plead guilty, and the timing of a plea affects the credit you receive.
How conspiracy is sentenced
Under section 3, where the offence agreed to carries life, so does the conspiracy. Otherwise the maximum is the same as for that offence.
There is no separate guideline for conspiracy. The Sentencing Council's drug supply guideline expressly covers conspiracy charged under section 1. Its fraud guideline covers conspiracy to defraud, with an offence range from a discharge to 8 years.
- Scale and role. The court looks at the scale of the whole conspiracy, then each person's role in it.
- Guilty plea. Up to one third off, with the most credit for a plea at the first opportunity.
- More than one count. If you are convicted of the conspiracy and offences committed under it, the overall sentence must be proportionate to the total offending (the totality guideline).
- Confiscation. Conspiring to commit a listed "lifestyle" offence, such as drug trafficking, counts as that offence for proceeds of crime purposes (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Sch 2 para 10).
More detail: sentencing.
A hypothetical example: a 23-year-old with no previous convictions is charged with four others with conspiracy to burgle commercial premises. The prosecution relies on calls with two co-accused on the relevant nights, cell site evidence placing his phone near two of the sites, and sightings of his van. That shows contact and presence, not agreement. The questions are whether the phone was his, and whether he agreed to burglaries or thought he was doing a paid driving job. If the jury is sure he agreed, the burglary guideline applies, with the scale of the whole conspiracy and his own role deciding where he falls. The maximum for burglary of non-dwellings is 10 years. Every case turns on its own facts.
A defended conspiracy case
In Operation Latious, 21 people were prosecuted for conspiracy to supply cocaine across the East of England. Our client was the last to hold out for trial after everyone else pleaded guilty. The prosecution then offered no evidence, because it could not prove he knew what he was involved in. Past results do not guarantee the outcome of any other case.
Specific conspiracy charges
- Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
- Conspiracy to supply Class B drugs and cannabis
- Conspiracy to supply steroids
- Conspiracy to import Class A drugs
- Conspiracy to murder
- Conspiracy to defraud: see fraud solicitors
See also drug offences, organised crime and what is a drug conspiracy charge?
Speak to our criminal defence team
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Frequently asked questions
Is conspiracy worse than the actual crime?
No. The maximum is the same as for the offence agreed to, and the same guideline applies. The difference is reach: everyone in the agreement can be charged, even those who took no part in the crime itself.
Can you be charged with conspiracy and the crime itself?
Yes. An indictment can include both. If you are convicted of both, the overall sentence must reflect the total offending, not punish the same conduct twice.
How long do you get for conspiracy?
It depends on the offence agreed to, its scale and your role. The maximum matches that offence: life for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, to rob or to murder, and 10 years for conspiracy to defraud. Most sentences are far below the maximum.
How do the police prove a conspiracy?
Usually by inference from phone records, messages, surveillance, money and how the people involved behaved. Contact alone is not enough. The prosecution must prove you knew of the agreement and joined it.
What is conspiracy to commit robbery?
An agreement between two or more people to rob someone, whether or not the robbery happens. Robbery carries a maximum of life (Theft Act 1968, s.8), so conspiracy to rob does too.
This page is general information about the law of England and Wales, reviewed on 16 October 2026. It is not legal advice on your case.