Psychiatry and the New Diminished Responsibility Plea: Uneasy Bedfellows?

摘要

In this case the Court of Appeal considered whether the words 'substantially impaired' under s. 52(1 )(b) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 ('the 2009 Act') imported a different test from that which was applied to the term 'substantial impairment' contained within the original s. 2(1) of the Homicide Act 1957 ('the 1957 Act'). In essence, the primary issue was whether the 'less than total but more than trivial' ruling adumbrated in R v Ramchurn [2010] EWCA Crim 194 continued to apply to the revised plea. The Court of Appeal also reviewed the relationship between Sch. 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 ('the CJA 2003') and sentencing in manslaughter cases. On 31 October 2010, the appellant (B) met his estranged wile at her home and killed her by repeatedly and violently striking her over the head with a hammer. The children of the couple were in a room two doors away when their mother was attacked. The daughter witnessed her father (B) wrapping up her mother's body before placing it into the car. As B drove the children to his house, his son asked if B was taking the victim to hospital, but B never did so, and he failed to call an ambulance.