Voluntary Manslaughter- Loss of Control

Question 1

Loss of Control

Answer 1

S.54 of the Coroners & Justice Act 2009

Question 2

(a) Did the defendant lose control?

Answer 2

Loss of control does not have to be sudden
The jury is responsible for deciding whether or not the defendant lost control
It has to be total loss of control, partial loss is not sufficient enough
R v Jewell: there was insufficient evidence of the defendant losing control, so the defence was ruled out

Question 3

(b) Was there a qualifying trigger?

Answer 3

There are 2 qualifying triggers under S.55:
1. the defendants fear of serious violence from the victim ~ if the defendant incited the violence, they cannot rely on the trigger ~ R v Dawes
2. things said or done which: (objective test)
a) constituted circumstances of extremely grave character
~ R v Zebedee: not extremely grave so defence failed
b) caused the defendant to have a justifiable sense of being wronged
~ R v Bowyer: the defendant had no justifiable sense of being wronged as he was committing a burglary at the time
Revenge is not a qualifying trigger ~ R v Ibrams & Gregory

Question 4

(c) Would a person of the defendants sex and age, with a normal amount of tolerance and self-restraint, have reacted in the same or similar way?

Answer 4

Defendant would be compared to the reasonable man

Camplin: confirms gender and age to be taken into account