Voluntary manslaughter

AR of Murder + MR of Murder + partial defence = manslaughter

Remember….
 Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with
intention to kill or cause GBH.
 Defined by Coke

AR + MR – DEFENCE = CL
Voluntary manslaughter

 Occurs when a murderer can present one of the ‘partial

defences’
 Remember the word ‘Voluntary’!
 CAN ONLY BE USED TO DEFEND A PERSON FROM A MURDER
CHARGE
 NOT for a manslaughter charge
 NOT for a charge of GBH
What does it do?

 A successful defence will ONLY reduce a murder conviction to manslaughter.

 It does nothing else.

Voluntary Manslaughter

Loss of control
Diminished responsibility
Infanticide
Suicide pact
Loss of control

 S54 Coroner’s and Justice Act 2009

 Where a person (D) kills or is party to the killing of another (V), D is not to be
convicted of murder it –
 a) D’s act and omissions in doing or being party to the killing resulted from
D’s loss of self control
 b) the loss of self control had a qualifying trigger, and
 c) a person of D’s age and sex, with a normal degree of tolerance and self
restraint and in the circumstances of D, might have reacted in the same or in
a similar way to D


Burden of proof

 The defence must produce

sufficient evidence to
‘pass the judge’

 THEN it is the
Prosecution’s job to
disprove that the defence
applies.
THREE tests

 ThereMUST be a loss of self control

(Subjective)
 ThereMUST be a qualifying trigger
(Objective)
A person of same age and sex in D’s
circumstances might have reacted in the
same way.
Loss of self control

 The loss of control does not have to be sudden.

 (cf Duffy, Thornton). Ibrams and Gregory (1981)
The qualifying trigger s55

 The FEAR trigger – attributable to D’s fear of SERIOUS violence from V against
D or another identified person. S55(3)

 Attributable to a thing or things done or said (or both) which

 Constitutes circumstances of an extremely grave character AND
 Causes the D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged (s55(4))


 Or a combination of both of the above (s55(5))

S55(6)c – REMEMBER THIS!

 The fact that a thing

 said or done constituted
 sexual infidelity is to
 be disregarded.
 (cf Clinton)
Same age and sex, with a normal degree of
tolerance and self restraint and in the
circumstances of D….

Self control Gravity characteristics

 Of the ordinary person A characteristic which
only. EVERYONE is may make a person
expected to live up to particularly sensitive
this standard. to a situation which
makes her angry or
fearful
Diminished responsibility

 S2Homicide Act 1957 (HA 1957)as amended

by s52 of the Coroner’s and Justice Act
2009 (CJA 2009)
Abnormality of mental functioning

 Arising from a recognised medical condition

 Must substantially impair D’s ability to understand the nature of his conduct
 OR form a rational judgement
 OR exercise self-control AND

 Provide an explanation for D’s acts and omissions in doing or being party to
the killing
Abnormality of mental functioning

 Byrne (1960) – abnormality

 ‘means a state of mind so different from tat of ordinary human beings that
the reasonable man would term it abnormal.’
 Lord Parker CJ

 NOW for expert witnesses to decide – see Brennan (2014) EWCA 2387

 Abnormality remains a LEGAL rather than a medical test.

A recognised medical condition

 Can be ANY medical condition, but must be recognised

 case of Dowds (2012)

 Developmental immaturity is NOT a RMC in under 18s

 So – an 18 yo who acts like a 10 year old gets that taken

 Into account, but a 10 yo who acts like a 10 yo does not
 (Parliamentary committee debate 2009)
Substantial impairment

 Ramchurn (2010 EWCA Crim 194 [15])

 ‘substantially’ is an ordinary English word. The purpose of

the term is to ensure that D does not escape liability for
murder on account of any impairment of mental
responsibility no matter how trivial.
 Lord Judge
 To understand the nature of his conduct – example 10 year old boy

 To form a rational judgement –

 Learned helplessness
 Mentally subnormal
 Depressed man caring for terminally ill wife (!)

To exercise self control – can’t? Or won’t?

Must provide an explanation for the killing (Dietschmann (2003))

REMEMBER…….

 Voluntary manslaughter is ONLY a partial defence for murder

 It CANNOT be used for other offences

 If successful, it ONLY reduces the conviction to manslaughter

 It does NOT do anything else

 Both Dim Res and LoC are statutory defences – be prepared to apply ALL the
elements with case law support