Law Weblog

R v Hendy [2006] CA

Saturday 6 May 2006 at 3:00 pm | In News | Post Comment

[Manslaughter – diminished responsibility – effect of intoxication can be disregarded]
D stabbed and killed a complete stranger. D raised diminished responsibility, there was evidence that alcohol, had played a part in the killing.  

Held: D did not have to show that if he had been sober, he would still have killed the victim to benefit from diminished responsibility. Section 2(1) of the Homicide Act 1957 meant that, if – ignoring the effect of the alcohol – D’s abnormality of mind substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts in doing the killing, the jury should find him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.  

R v Gittens [1984] QB is correct. Dietschmann was not ‘new law’ but simply explained what the law had always been since the 1957 Act was enacted and since Gittens.

Guilty of manslaughter