52.—(1) A person who—

(a) knowingly and without lawful authority publishes an examination paper or part of such paper to any other person prior to the holding of the examination concerned,

(b) has in his or her possession without lawful authority an examination paper or part of such paper prior to the holding of the examination concerned,

(c) carries out any duties relating to the preparation of examination papers and knowingly and without lawful authority provides a candidate for an examination or any other person with information concerning the material prepared by him or her in the course of those duties with the intention of conferring an advantage upon a candidate over other candidates,

(d) knowingly and wilfully credits a candidate with higher marks than the marks to which that candidate was entitled with the intention of conferring an advantage on that candidate over other candidates,

(e) knowingly and maliciously credits a candidate with lower marks than the marks to which that candidate was entitled,

(f) personates a candidate at an examination or knowingly allows or assists a person to personate a candidate at an examination,

(g) knowingly and maliciously destroys or damages any material relating to an examination,

(h) knowingly and maliciously obstructs any candidate or a person engaged in the conduct of an examination or otherwise interferes with the general conduct of an examination,

(i) knowingly and without lawful authority alters any certificate or any other record, including a record in machine-readable form, containing the results of an examination, or

(j) knowingly issues or makes use of any certificate or other document which purports to be a document issued by the person or body under whose authority the examination was conducted and to contain the results of an examination knowing that those results are false,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who knowingly aids, abets, counsels or procures another person to commit any offence under subsection (1) or conspires with another person for the commission of any such offence shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(4) No action shall lie against an examiner in respect of anything done by him or her in good faith and in pursuance of his or her functions as an examiner.