Hi Keith,
Now I should know this answer as a former Sheffield Det.Con. but here I am in Scotland working on a play and I need to "charge" a person with the kidnap and murder of a baby, say 4 days old, who has not been named. Could you give me the wording please, otherwise I'll just go for some guesses.

Found this on the web?
The Caution
The 'Notice to Detained Persons' (NDP), the English police caution administered to suspects at the moment of arrest. This was recently changed in the wake of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) of 1984. Below is the revised version.
"You do not have to say anything
But it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned something which you later rely on in court.
Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

Yep, that's the one. But failing that "you're nicked" always seems to do the job.

Thanks for the advice, but what you are showing is the "caution". Before that comes the charge:
"John Henry Smith you are charged that on a date unknown between .........and..........you did murder one..............contrary to Common Law."
It's the exact wording of that bit I'm needing, maybe it's the Homicide Act now, and is it difeerent in Scottish Law, one thing's for certain, the audience will tell me if I get it wrong!
Thanks again.

Do you have a local Police Station? I'm sure they'll be glad to help. (Many years ago I was playing a policeman who had to break the news of a death to a close relative. I took my script to the local PC who was only too willing to go through it showing me the right inflexions they use)

Hi Flange
You're assuming that I would feel able to walk into a Police Station and get out again! The problem is that ours is a very rural station, population 6-700, and I was hoping to deal with this without "local" input - the grapevine works well here. Thanks for the input tho. I might have to go down that road if I don't get anything better.
Cheers

Thanks everybody... had to take a flyer with some guesswork, so I'll not trouble you further. At least we established that none of you had been recently charged with murder or you would have known.!!!

We're actors, Gordon, we've never murdered anything except our lines.

IT'S NOT MY SHOW!!!!

I'm just the poor sop who has to get these under achieving, cretinus, disorganised and most probably genitically mutated students kicked into achieving as good a performance that causes the least damage to my venue (and mental state) as possible And miracle of miracles it's our objective to get it to go up on time just once

Please refer to this link for a VERY detailed charge/s

It's Scottish as well. Different wording than English Law.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/493242.stm

Thanks
I came across that one a few days ago. Imagine have to listen to that lot in Court!
It's good to know that so many of us have murdered scripts though, it's re-assuring in a crazy sort of way.

I never knowing murdered a script but I have died on stage. More of a victim than a perpetrater.