⇒ Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 states: "Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously by any means whatsoever wound or cause any grievous bodily harm to any person... with intent... to do some GBH to any person, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detainer of any person, shall be guilty of an offence and being convicted thereof shall be liable... to imprisonment for life".

⇒ The definition of wounding with intent:

• Actus Reus: the defendant unlawfully wounded or caused grievous bodily harm to any person.
• Mens Rea: either: (1)the defendant intended to cause grievous bodily harm; or (2) the defendant intended to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detention of any person.

The actus reus of this offence is very similar to that of malicious wounding (see the offence of malicious wounding here). However, the mens rea of the two offences differ...

⇒ The core mens rea of Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (i.e. wounding with intent) is that the defendant intended to cause GBH → thus, the mens rea requirement for section 18 is more stringent than that required for section 20 (malicious wounding): while section 18 requires proof that GBH was intended, section 20 merely requires that some harm was foreseen.

⇒ Even if the defendant did not intend GBH he can still be convicted under s18 if he was intending to prevent or resist an arrest → this requires that the defendant was Cunningham recklessness to causing the GBH and that he intended to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension/detention of any person.