R v Jones [1990] 3 All ER 886

Defendant wanted to kill Victim so he bought a shotgun, sawed of end, lay in wait for Victim, climbed into back of Victim’s car and said he was going to kill Victim. Victim managed to escape.

Defendant was convicted of attempted murder and appealed on the basis that it was neither proven that the safety catch was off nor that his finger was on the trigger and therefore that the judge should have decided that there was insufficient evidence to leave question to jury. 

CA dismissed this on the ground that “a reasonable jury, properly directed, could convict Defendant of attempted murder” and therefore it was right that the judge left this question to the jury. When the merely preparatory acts have come to an end and Defendant begins the crime proper, he is guilty of an attempted offence. 

They say that everything prior to getting into the car (buying the gun, shortening it, lying in wait, etc. = preparatory)