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Joint Enterprise Murder: A Missed Opportunity?

Document Cited authorities 9 Cited in Related
Published date01 December 2023
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/00220183231215490
AuthorPaul Dargue
Date01 December 2023
Joint Enterprise Murder:
A Missed Opportunity?
R v BKY and Others [2023] EWCA Crim 1095
Keywords
Joint enterprise, murder, criminal appeals, summing up, safe convictions
On the 16 October 2021, Jack Woodley (W), aged 18 at the time, was stabbed during an altercation with a
group of youths in Houghton-Le-Spring, County Durham. W had attended a festival with a group of
friends. The 10 appellants had also attended. One of the appellants, (CM), had in the waistband of his
trousers a large knife. A minor incident arose over a girl. It was the prosecution’s case that the 10 appel-
lants were looking for a f‌ight and used this incident as an excuse [8]. W and his friends left the festival,
and the appellants followed. One appellant (S), placed W in a headlock, while other appellants, so said the
prosecution, joined in and punched, kicked, and stamped on W [9]. Shouts of ‘get the chopper’were
heard, and the appellant CM stabbed W. The attack was recorded by one of W’s friends and was
caught on CCTV, and there were other eyewitnesses. W was attacked a second time, but this attack
did not contribute to his death [11]. The whole incident lasted approximately 84 seconds.
W died the next day in hospital. Post-mortem examination of his body showed stab wounds to his back
and hip and injuries consistent with repeated kicks and stamps. The medical cause of his death was the
stab wound to his back which would have required at least moderate force [12]. The 10 appellants were
jointly charged with murder (count 1) and manslaughter in the alternative (count 2). The prosecution case
was that CM had inf‌licted the fatal knife wound and that all the appellants were jointly engaged in attack-
ing W, using violence and/or intentionally encouraging others to use violence, and all sharing a common
purpose of causing really serious injury [15]. Each appellant denied any intention that W should be killed
or seriously injured [19], but their defences differed slightly [20–9].
BKY denied using any violence in the f‌irst part of the f‌ight, but admitted punching W once in the
second part. CO admitted presence at the scene (having originally denied it) but denied using or encour-
aging violence. SS admitted to throwing some punches, but said his use of force was lawful self-defence
and in any event was after the fatal stab wound had been inf‌licted. JL said that he had tried to stop the f‌ight
and that the force he used in pulling W away had been lawful. LM said that he had seen S and W f‌ighting
and had tried to push S away. He denied using or encouraging violence. BS admitted that he had used
unlawful force in attacking W, but said he had only intended to have a one-on-one f‌ight and did not
use or encourage any violence after others became involved. AGN denied that he had hit anyone.
BGS said he said that others were shouting ‘chop him’, but he had told them ‘no’. He admitted in inter-
view that he had tried to kick W but said he did not succeed. GW admitted ‘throwing a couple of punches
to the head’but denied any involvement in the stabbing. Finally, CM admitted that he had unlawfully
inf‌licted the fatal injury but denied that he intended to kill or to cause really serious bodily harm to
W. He said that he had pulled out the knife to scare W but had not intended to stab him. The fatal
wound was, he said, an accident. He denied inf‌licting the stab wound to W’s hip.
The trial began on 14 March 2022 and it was due to end in early May. The trial judge was due to go on
holiday for 2 weeks from the 9 May. Unfortunately, progress in the trial was delayed by the Covid-19
pandemic. The judge gave directions on law on 27 and 28 April, closing speeches were completed on
Case Note
The Journal of Criminal Law
2023, Vol. 87(5-6) 439–443
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00220183231215490
journals.sagepub.com/home/clj

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