Homicide — murder & manslaughter (incl. partial defences)

CRL.03 — Homicide: Murder & Manslaughter

Murder (common law)

AR: unlawful killing of a person, under the King's peace, where death results (causation must be established — factual "but for" + legal/operative & substantial cause; rules on intervening acts, thin-skull, medical negligence). MR: malice aforethought = intention to kill OR intention to cause GBH (really serious harm) — R v Vickers; R v Cunningham (1982); R v Moloney. Intention may be direct or oblique: jury may find intent where death/GBH was a virtual certainty and D appreciated this (R v Woollin; R v Matthews & Alleyne). Sentence is mandatory life.

Voluntary manslaughter — partial defences (reduce murder to manslaughter; D must have the full AR + MR of murder first)

1. Loss of control — Coroners and Justice Act 2009, ss.54–55:

• Loss of self-control (need not be sudden);
• A qualifying trigger — fear of serious violence (s.55(3)) and/or things said/done that were extremely grave giving D a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged (s.55(4));
• A person of D's sex/age with normal tolerance/self-restraint might have reacted in the same way.
• Excluded: sexual infidelity (as the thing relied on, s.55(6)(c)) and a considered desire for revenge (s.54(4)). D bears evidential burden; prosecution must disprove beyond reasonable doubt.

2. Diminished responsibility — Homicide Act 1957 s.2 (as amended): D had an abnormality of mental functioning arising from a recognised medical condition, which substantially impaired ability to understand conduct/form rational judgment/exercise self-control, and provides an explanation for the killing. D bears the legal burden (balance of probabilities) — R v Golds (substantial = important/weighty, not trivial). Intoxication alone is not a recognised condition (R v Dowds).

3. Suicide pact — Homicide Act 1957 s.4.

Involuntary manslaughter (no MR for murder)

• Unlawful act (constructive): a criminal, dangerous unlawful act (a sober/reasonable person foresees risk of some harm — R v Church; DPP v Newbury & Jones) that causes death; the unlawful act must be a crime, not a mere omission (R v Lowe); base offence MR required.
• Gross negligence: duty of care; breach; R v Adomako / R v Broughton — serious & obvious risk of death (not just harm) reasonably foreseeable at the time of breach; breach so bad as to be criminal.

Common traps

• GBH intent (not just intent to kill) suffices for murder — do not require intent to kill.
• Woollin is evidence from which intent may be inferred, not a definition of intent.
• Loss of control: burden is on the Crown to disprove; DR burden is on D.
• UAM needs a criminal unlawful act; civil wrongs/omissions won't do. GNM risk must be of death, UAM only of some harm.