Article 451 Spanish Criminal Code: Accessory After the Fact (Encubrimiento) (2026)

Being an accessory after the fact (encubrimiento) is an offence under Art. 451 of the Spanish Criminal Code (CP), among the offences against the Administration of Justice in Title XX. The accessory does not take part in someone else's crime: they commit a separate offence after another one has been carried out. Drawing on our practice in criminal defence for obstruction of justice and concealment offences, we explain its forms and penalties, Arts. 452 to 454 CP and its borders with neighbouring offences.

What Being an Accessory After the Fact Means and What Art. 451 CP Says

The provision punishes with six months to three years' imprisonment anyone who, «con conocimiento de la comisión de un delito y sin haber intervenido en el mismo como autor o cómplice, interviniere con posterioridad a su ejecución» (unofficial translation: "knowing that an offence has been committed and without having taken part in it as perpetrator or accomplice, intervenes after it has been carried out"), in one of the three ways it lists. Three requirements are common to all of them:

1. Knowledge of the prior offence: the accessory must know that an offence has been committed. There is no negligent form: negligence is only punished where the law expressly says so (Art. 12 CP), and Art. 451 does not.
2. No participation in the concealed offence: a perpetrator or accomplice is not also an accessory to their own offence. Covering one's own tracks afterwards (autoencubrimiento) is not punishable.
3. Intervention afterwards: help given before or during the offence is not encubrimiento but participation in the main offence (Arts. 28 and 29 CP).

The law also exempts from punishment anyone who shields their spouse or stable partner, ascendants, descendants and siblings, or in-laws in those same degrees, except where they help the offender profit from the crime (Arts. 451.1.º and 454 CP).

If You Are Under Investigation as an Accessory After the Fact: What It Means and What Happens Next

It means that you are being investigated for an offence of your own, separate from the one another person committed. In Spain, a suspect at the investigation stage is formally a person under investigation (investigado). The prosecution must prove that an offence was committed, that you knew about it, that you took no part in it and that you then acted in one of the ways described in Art. 451. If any of those elements is missing, there is no offence.

Art. 17.2.5.º of the Criminal Procedure Act (LECrim) treats as connected offences «los delitos de favorecimiento real y personal y el blanqueo de capitales respecto al delito antecedente» (unofficial translation: "offences of real and personal favouring and money laundering in relation to the predicate offence"). They may therefore be investigated and tried in the same proceedings where that helps to clarify the facts (Art. 17.1 LECrim). On its own, with a maximum of three years, the offence follows the abbreviated procedure (Art. 757 LECrim), unless the cap in Art. 452 leaves it with only a minor penalty: it is then a minor offence, tried under the procedure for minor offences (Arts. 962 et seq. LECrim).

The exact classification (accessory, receiving stolen goods, accomplice or no offence at all) changes the penalty considerably. You have the right to remain silent and not to incriminate yourself (Art. 118.1, letters g and h, LECrim): before any statement, establish with your lawyer what you knew, when you intervened and why.

The Three Forms of the Offence

Art. 451 CP sets out three alternative types of conduct; any one of them is enough:

The first two forms (favorecimiento real, real favouring) are punishable whatever the concealed offence; the third (favorecimiento personal, personal favouring) only in the listed cases. If, in the first form, the helper seeks a benefit for themselves and the concealed offence is one against property or the socio-economic order, the conduct shifts to receiving stolen goods under Art. 298 CP.

When Harbouring a Fugitive Is Actually a Crime: Art. 451.3

Personal favouring is only punishable in two situations:

• a) Because of the seriousness of the concealed offence: treason, homicide of the King or Queen or of any of their ascendants or descendants, of the Queen Consort or the Queen's Consort, of the Regent or any member of the Regency, or of the Prince or Princess of Asturias, genocide, crimes against humanity, offences against persons and property protected in armed conflict, rebellion, terrorism, homicide, piracy, trafficking in human beings or illegal organ trafficking. The list is closed.
• b) Because of who the helper is: the helper acted with abuse of public functions. Then, whatever the concealed offence, prison is accompanied by special disqualification from public employment or office for two to four years if the concealed offence is less serious, or absolute disqualification for six to twelve years if it is serious (broadly, one carrying more than five years' imprisonment: Arts. 13 and 33 CP).

So simply hiding a friend wanted for a robbery does not fall within Art. 451.3.º: robbery is not on the list. It is different if that person also hides the effects (for example, the stolen items) or the instruments of the offence, which Art. 451.2.º punishes whatever the concealed offence.

Penalties and the Cap of Article 452

The standard penalty is six months to three years' imprisonment, but Art. 452 CP sets a cap: «en ningún caso podrá imponerse pena privativa de libertad que exceda de la señalada al delito encubierto» (unofficial translation: "a custodial sentence exceeding the one laid down for the concealed offence may in no case be imposed"). For example, theft of more than 400 euros carries six to eighteen months' imprisonment (Art. 234.1 CP), so whoever hides the stolen items cannot receive more than eighteen months.

Where the concealed offence carries no prison sentence, two rules apply:

• If it is punishable by a penalty of a different nature (for example, only a fine), prison is replaced by a fine of six to twenty-four months.
• If its penalty is equal to or lower than that fine, the accessory receives the penalty for that offence in its lower half. Thus theft not exceeding 400 euros, without the circumstances of Art. 235 and outside the repeat-offending rule of Art. 234.2 itself, carries a fine of one to three months (Art. 234.2 CP), and whoever covers it up faces a fine of one to two months. A fine of up to three months is a minor penalty, so the accessory's offence is then a minor offence (delito leve, Art. 13.3 CP).

The limitation period (after which the offence can no longer be prosecuted), is five years (Art. 131.1 CP). That is the period for the maximum penalty in Art. 451 (three years), and it does not change when Art. 452 lowers the penalty, as long as the penalty remains less serious. There are two exceptions. Where, because of Art. 452, the only penalty is a minor one, as in the example above, it is a minor offence and becomes time-barred after one year (Art. 131.1 CP). And where an official abuses public functions to shield a serious offence, absolute disqualification of six to twelve years raises the period to fifteen years (Arts. 131.1 and 131.2 CP).

An Offence Even If the Perpetrator Is Not Liable: Art. 453 CP

Under Art. 453 CP, the rules on accessories «se aplicarán aun cuando el autor del hecho encubierto sea irresponsable o esté personalmente exento de pena» (unofficial translation: "shall apply even where the perpetrator of the concealed act is not criminally responsible or is personally exempt from punishment"). It is enough that the offence was committed, even if its perpetrator is never punished:

• Not criminally responsible: someone whose mental anomaly or disorder prevented them from understanding that the act was unlawful or from acting in accordance with that understanding (Art. 20.1 CP), or a minor under eighteen, who is not liable under the Criminal Code (Art. 19 CP) but may answer under juvenile justice legislation.
• Exempt from punishment: a son or daughter who takes property from their parents in the cases of Art. 268 CP, which leaves them only civil liability. The exemption is personal: whoever hides what was taken may still be an accessory.

The Family Exemption of Article 454

Art. 454 CP declares exempt from the penalties for this offence anyone who shields:

• Their spouse, or the person to whom they are linked in a stable way by an analogous emotional relationship (a stable partner).
• Their ascendants, descendants and siblings, by birth or by adoption.
• Their in-laws in those same degrees: for example, parents-in-law, sons- and daughters-in-law, or brothers- and sisters-in-law.

Other relatives, such as aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces or cousins, are not covered, and neither are friends. There is also a single exception: the exemption does not extend to Art. 451.1.º CP, that is, to helping the relative benefit from the proceeds, product or price of the offence. You may hide your brother when he is on the run, or hide the evidence against him, without punishment; helping him enjoy the proceeds is another matter.

Once the family tie or the stable partnership is proven (which requires stability, not a casual relationship), a relative who acted in the second or third form is exempt. The exemption only covers this offence, not other offences committed to protect the relative. If you are summoned as a witness against a relative, the exemption from testifying under Art. 416 LECrim applies, with its own list of relatives and exceptions.

Accessory, Receiving Stolen Goods and Money Laundering: Where the Line Runs

Three neighbouring offences cover conduct after an offence:

• Accessory after the fact (Art. 451 CP): helping those responsible without intent to profit personally. An offence against the Administration of Justice.
• Receiving stolen goods (Art. 298 CP): acting with intent to profit personally from the proceeds of an offence against property or the socio-economic order. Basic offence: six months to two years' imprisonment. See our guide to receiving stolen goods in Spain.
• Money laundering (Art. 301 CP): acquiring, converting or transferring assets of criminal origin, or acts to hide their unlawful origin or help the person responsible evade the legal consequences. More in our post on Art. 301 CP and money laundering.

The distinction is not academic. The family exemption of Art. 454 CP exists for accessories but not for receiving or laundering, and the cap of Art. 452 CP, which Art. 298.3 reproduces for receiving, does not exist for laundering. And Art. 301.1 CP expressly covers assets from an offence committed by the launderer or by any third party, so self-laundering is punishable; Art. 451 requires that the accessory took no part in the prior offence, so covering up one's own crime is not an offence.

Accessory, Accomplice, Failure to Prevent an Offence (Art. 450 CP) and Obstruction of Justice

Complicity: Help Given Before or During the Offence

Accomplices cooperate in carrying out the act through prior or simultaneous acts (Art. 29 CP); a cooperator whose contribution is indispensable is treated as a perpetrator (Art. 28 CP). If the help given afterwards had been promised beforehand, the prosecution may argue that the promise itself was a prior act of cooperation.

The penalty does not always favour the accessory. An accomplice receives the penalty one degree lower than the perpetrator's (Art. 63 CP), which starts at half the original minimum and ends one day below it; the accessory, the penalty in Art. 451 subject to the cap in Art. 452. In a homicide, the accessory classification is more favourable; for lesser offences the opposite may be true. In a theft of more than 400 euros, the accomplice's penalty runs from three months to six months less one day (Art. 70.1.2.ª CP), while the accessory's can reach eighteen months.

Failure to Prevent an Offence and the Duty to Report

Art. 450 CP punishes anyone who, able to do so by immediate intervention and without risk to themselves or others, fails to prevent an offence against life, physical integrity or health, freedom or sexual freedom, and anyone who fails to alert the authorities to stop one that they know is imminent or under way. The penalty is six months to two years' imprisonment if the offence is against life and a fine of six to twenty-four months otherwise, or one degree below the penalty for the offence not prevented if that penalty is equal or lower. Art. 450 concerns an offence that is imminent or in progress; the accessory, one already carried out. More on failure to prevent offences.

And not reporting an offence already committed? As a general rule, that is not an offence: staying silent is none of the forms in Art. 451, which require helping, hiding or assisting. Art. 259 LECrim requires anyone who witnesses a public offence (one prosecuted by the authorities of their own motion) to report it to the judge or prosecutor, under a fine of 25 to 250 pesetas: the text in force still states it in pesetas, Spain's currency before the euro. The offender's spouse (unless legally or de facto separated), the partner living with them and their ascendants, descendants and collateral relatives up to the second degree do not have that duty, subject to exceptions (Art. 261 LECrim). An authority or public official who deliberately fails to promote the prosecution of offences they know about, by contrast, commits the offence in Art. 408 CP.

Obstruction of Justice

The offences in Arts. 463 to 467 CP protect the course of proceedings: Art. 464 CP punishes anyone who uses violence or intimidation to try to influence a complainant, party, suspect, lawyer, court representative (procurador), expert, interpreter or witness so that they change their conduct in the proceedings. The accessory acts on the evidence or on the person responsible, with no need for violence or for proceedings to be under way. More in our legal guide to obstruction of justice in Spain.

What to Do (and What Not to Do) If You Are Accused as an Accessory After the Fact: Defence Strategies

1. No knowledge of the prior offence: someone who keeps a rucksack without knowing what is inside or where it comes from is not covering anything up.
2. Timing of the intervention: help given before or during the offence is participation; help given only afterwards is not complicity. Which classification is more favourable depends on the penalty for the concealed offence: lighter for the accessory in a homicide, possibly heavier in lesser offences.
3. Personal favouring outside the list: under Art. 451.3.º, checking that the concealed offence is on the list or that public functions were abused; if neither applies, there is no offence.
4. The family exemption (Art. 454 CP): proving the tie and that the conduct is not the profit assistance of Art. 451.1.º.
5. The cap in Art. 452 CP: insisting that the penalty does not exceed that of the concealed offence and that the fine substitution applies where appropriate.

Two mistakes are best avoided: explaining to the police what you did "to help" before analysing whether it falls under Art. 451, and discussing the case with the person you allegedly helped, as those conversations may end up in the case file.

Between conduct that is no offence at all, the family exemption and a prison sentence there are nuances that are often at stake from the very first statement. With over 15 years of experience in criminal law, we can study your case. See our defence of accessory-after-the-fact cases, or call us on +34 91 078 65 74 for an initial assessment of your case.