December 10, 2025
R v Evans (Gemma) [2009] EWCA Crim 650
Gemma Evans procured heroin for her half-sister Carly, who self-injected, showed clear overdose symptoms and later died. Evans and their mother failed to seek medical help. The Court of Appeal held Evans owed a duty of care and upheld her manslaughter conviction for gross negligence. Facts Gemma Evans and her half-sister, Carly Townsend, together with their mother, Andrea Townsend, were all heroin addicts. Carly, not quite 17, had recently undergone detoxification while serving a detention and training order and had been released on licence with a requirement to live at her mother’s home and observe a curfew. On 2 May
