FLK2 · Criminal Liability

Homicide — murder & manslaughter (incl. partial defences)

SQE1 revision notes — the key rules, leading cases and common traps for this topic, in plain English and current to 2026.

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.

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A woman is the treasurer of a small amateur football club. Members pay £20 each month in cash. Under the club rules she accepted on becoming treasurer, she must bank the subscriptions into the club's dedicated account within seven days. One month she receives £200 in subscriptions and spends the cash on her own gas bill that same day. She intends to replace the money from her wages before anyone notices, and pays an equivalent £200 into the club account two weeks later. Which statement best explains how section 5(3) of the Theft Act 1968 applies to the subscriptions when she pays the gas bill?

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