December 11, 2025
The defendant stabbed his pregnant partner, causing premature birth; the child was born alive but died from complications of prematurity. The House of Lords held he could not be guilty of murder, as malice could not be transferred via the foetus, but was guilty of unlawful act manslaughter. Facts The...
December 11, 2025
Mr Fagan accidentally drove his car onto a police constable’s foot. After being told, he refused to move the car for a time. The court held this was a continuing battery so that mens rea could arise during the act, constituting an assault. Appeal dismissed. Facts The appellant, Vincent Martel...
December 11, 2025
Church violently assaulted Mrs Nott in his van, rendering her unconscious, then threw her into a river believing, he claimed, that she was dead. She drowned. The Court of Appeal upheld his manslaughter conviction and clarified the test for unlawful act manslaughter. Facts The appellant, Cyril David Church, was tried...
December 11, 2025
Four accused planned to kill a man and stage his death as an accident. After striking him unconscious, they rolled his body over a cliff, believing him dead. He actually died from exposure. The Privy Council held this was one continuous transaction amounting to murder. Facts The four appellants were...
December 11, 2025
Two boys aged 11 and 12 set fire to newspapers near wheelie bins at a Co‑op, accidentally causing a £1m blaze. Applying Caldwell’s objective recklessness test they were convicted of arson. The House of Lords quashed their convictions and overruled Caldwell for Criminal Damage Act offences, restoring a subjective recklessness...
December 11, 2025
Caldwell, very drunk, set fire to a hotel in revenge, endangering guests. The House of Lords affirmed the Court of Appeal but held that recklessness under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 includes failing to consider an obvious risk, and that self-induced intoxication is no defence where recklessness suffices for mens...
December 11, 2025
Stephenson, a schizophrenic vagrant, lit a fire inside a straw stack to keep warm, causing extensive damage. The Court of Appeal held that “recklessness” under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 requires a subjective awareness of risk. Because the jury were misdirected, his arson conviction was quashed. Facts On 28 November...
December 11, 2025
Members of the Committee of 100 planned to occupy and immobilise RAF Wethersfield, a prohibited place, to protest nuclear weapons. Convicted under the Official Secrets Act 1911, they argued their aim benefited the State. The House of Lords held that obstructing defence facilities was a prejudicial purpose and upheld the...
December 11, 2025
Conjoined twins Jodie and Mary could be surgically separated only by causing Mary’s inevitable death, but non-separation meant both would soon die. Their devout Catholic parents refused consent. The Court of Appeal held the operation was in Jodie’s best interests and, applying necessity, could lawfully proceed. Facts Jodie and Mary...
December 11, 2025
Mr Woollin threw his three‑month‑old son onto a hard surface, causing his death. The trial judge directed the jury using a “substantial risk” test. The House of Lords held this mis-stated the intent required for murder, affirmed the Nedrick “virtual certainty” direction, and substituted manslaughter. Facts The appellant lost his...
December 11, 2025
Appellant Nedrick, after threatening to "burn out" a woman, set fire to her house; a child died and he was convicted of murder. The Court of Appeal substituted manslaughter, holding the jury had been misdirected on intent and articulating the virtual-certainty test. Facts On 25 January 1985 at Stafford Crown...
December 11, 2025
Striking miners Hancock and Shankland dropped heavy concrete from a bridge onto a taxi carrying a working miner, killing the driver. Initially convicted of murder, they had their convictions reduced to manslaughter. The House of Lords upheld this and held that the Moloney jury directions on intention, based on “natural”...
December 11, 2025
A drunken ex-soldier killed his stepfather during a foolish shotgun 'challenge'. The House of Lords quashed his murder conviction, substituting manslaughter, and clarified that foresight of probable consequences is evidence from which intent may be inferred, not itself intention. Facts In the early hours of 22 November 1981, the appellant,...
December 11, 2025
Mrs Hyam poured petrol through Mrs Booth’s letterbox and ignited it, knowing it was highly probable serious harm would result. Two children died. The House of Lords held that such knowledge and deliberate exposure to serious risk constituted malice aforethought, upholding her murder convictions. Facts The appellant, Mrs Hyam, had...
December 11, 2025
Berlinah Wallace threw sulphuric acid over her former partner, causing catastrophic, permanent injuries. He later underwent lawful euthanasia in Belgium. The trial judge withdrew the murder charge, holding causation was broken. The Court of Appeal held the jury could find her acts significantly caused his death and ordered a retrial....
December 11, 2025
D was accused of manslaughter and inflicting grievous bodily harm after his wife, allegedly subjected to long-term domestic abuse, committed suicide. The Court of Appeal held that psychological injury without a recognisable psychiatric illness does not constitute “bodily harm” under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, upholding the terminating...
December 11, 2025
An 18-year-old Jehovah’s Witness refused a life-saving blood transfusion after being stabbed by the appellant and died. The Court of Appeal held that her refusal did not break the chain of causation; the stab wound remained an operative cause of death, so the manslaughter conviction stood. Facts The appellant, Robert...
December 11, 2025
Two conjoined appeals concerning guilty pleas entered on mistaken understandings of the law. Byram’s manslaughter and poisoning convictions were quashed following the House of Lords decision in Kennedy (No 2). Burgess’s conviction for escape was quashed following Montgomery, but his sentences for distraction burglaries were upheld. Facts Byram Jeffrey Byram,...
December 11, 2025
Kennedy supplied heroin and prepared a syringe used by Bosque, an adult of sound mind, who voluntarily injected himself and died. The House of Lords held that self-injection by a fully informed adult breaks the chain of causation, so unlawful act manslaughter was not made out and the conviction was...
December 11, 2025
Roberts drove a young woman in his car and, after unwanted sexual advances, she jumped from the moving vehicle, suffering injuries. Convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, he appealed. The Court of Appeal held the trial judge’s causation direction correct and dismissed the appeal. Facts The appellant, Kenneth Joseph...
December 11, 2025
Pagett used his pregnant girlfriend as a human shield while firing at armed police. Officers lawfully returned fire and killed her. The Court of Appeal held he had legally caused her death and upheld his manslaughter conviction, clarifying causation where third parties act in self-defence or legal duty. Facts The...
December 11, 2025
Empress Car Company stored diesel in a tank with unsafe withdrawal arrangements so that an unknown person could open an unlocked tap, causing diesel to enter a nearby river. The House of Lords held the company had "caused" the pollution under strict liability, clarifying causation where third-party acts intervene. Facts...
December 11, 2025
Rafferty, aged 17, participated in an early stage assault and robbery of Ben Bellamy but left before co-defendants stripped, dragged and drowned the victim. The Court of Appeal held the drowning was a new intervening act, so Rafferty’s manslaughter conviction as a secondary party was quashed. Facts The appellant, Andrew...
December 11, 2025
Customs and an informer arranged a controlled heroin importation from Pakistan and lured Shahzad and Latif to England, where they sought to take delivery and were arrested. The House of Lords upheld their convictions, clarifying abuse of process, entrapment, and the scope of section 170(2) CEMA. Facts In 1990 Honi,...
December 11, 2025
A’s car was left stationary and unlit on the M1 hard shoulder for about 15 minutes after a night out. A lorry driven by L veered across all lanes and hit the car, killing one passenger. The Court of Appeal held the trial judge misapplied causation principles and ordered a...
May 3, 2026
National Case Law Archive
May 3, 2026
National Case Law Archive
May 3, 2026
National Case Law Archive