Underage drinking and embarrassing fumbles in a sex club, starring a teenage Christian Grey — just your typical Cambridge law exam.
When law students at Cambridge University reached question ten of their criminal law paper last week they were greeted with a scenario based on an imagined prequel to hit novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
The problem question featured a 15 year-old boy called Christian — in honour of Fifty Shades’ lead character — who drinks vodka to steady his nerves before entering “notorious Club XXX” with the goal of losing his virginity. A slightly blurry photo of the question is below.
The question in full:
Christian, a 15 year old who looked older, was determined to lose his virginity and consequently decided to go to the notorious Club XXX. Christian had a number of vodka shots to steady his nerves, which made him feel very drunk. In the course of the evening the following events occurred.
(i). On his way to the toilet Christian was walking unsteadily. He knocked into Grace, causing her to spill her drunk on the floor. Theodore slipped on the spilt drink and fell against a table. He bruised his allow as a result and broke a glass.
(ii). Christian was approached by Anastasia, who was 22 and very drunk, and who, lifting up her top, asked him to pour hot candle wax onto her naked breasts. This he did. Anastasia kissed Christian passionately, but then went home.
(iii). Christian was approached by Mia, who was 19 and very drunk, and who thought he was her ex-boyfriend Elliot. Calling him Elliot, she expressed surprise that he was in the club and asked him to go to a storeroom with her. Christian said that was not his name, but he was so drunk that his words were slurred. Once in the storeroom, Christian removed Mia’s clothes, but then vomited violently over her and she left in disgust.
What offences, if any, have been committed?
Cambridge law student Alexander Bradley-Sitch told The Tab Cambridge that the exam also contained a question involving a Pulp Fiction-style botched robbery of a restaurant, but backed the inclusion of such story-lines. “It’s always fun to have an absurd narrative in these problem questions; it makes the exam more interesting,” he said.
This isn’t the first time graphic content has appeared in a Cambridge criminal law exam. Last year this R v Brown-inspired beauty shocked the world’s media after a student took a photo of it on his phone.