Loss of Control beyond Sexual Infidelity
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2012.76.3.766 |
| Author | Nicola Wake |
| Date | 01 June 2012 |
| Published date | 01 June 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Court of Appeal |
Court of Appeal
Loss of Control beyond Sexual Infidelity
R v Clinton (Jon-Jacques) [2012] EWCA Crim 2
Keywords Loss of control; Murder; Manslaughter; Sexual infidelity;
Stalking
On 15 November 2010, the appellant (C) killed his wife by striking her
repeatedly with a wooden baton before strangling her with a ligature.
The victim’s body was found on the living room floor semi-naked. C was
found in the loft with a noose around his neck. Two weeks before her
death, the victim left C and their two children to begin a ‘trial separa-
tion’. Both parties had a history of clinical depression and their marriage
was fraught with financial difficulties. The day before the killing, the
victim informed C that she had been having an affair with a man, Mr
Montgomery, whom she had met via a social networking site.
On the day of the killing, C accessed several websites containing
material on suicide; among the searches were entries referring to ‘sleep-
ing pills’, ‘how to hang yourself’ and ‘the best suicide methods’. C also
accessed the victim’s Facebook account where he ‘tortured’ himself over
photographs of the victim and Mr Montgomery. The victim’s relation-
ship status indicated that she was ‘separated’ and ‘open to offers’. C also
found sexually explicit photographs which confirmed that his wife had
been having an affair. When confronted, the victim informed C that she
had engaged in sexual intercourse with five different men, going into
graphic detail. The victim subsequently noticed that C had accessed
suicide websites and proceeded to taunt him. She told him that he did
not have the nerve and that ‘it would have been easier if you had, for all
of us’. The attack on the victim followed. C took explicit photographs of
the victim in several different positions post mortem, and sent abusive
messages to Mr Montgomery via SMS. C then composed a ‘note to
everyone’ before preparing the noose.
At his trial for murder, C attempted to raise the partial defences of
diminished responsibility and loss of control. The latter is contained in
ss 54–56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (‘the 2009 Act’). Section
54(1)(a) and (7) of the 2009 Act reduces a conviction of murder to one
of voluntary manslaughter where the defendant kills subject to a loss of
control. The loss of control must be attributable to at least one of two
qualifying triggers. The first qualifying trigger is satisfied by a thing said
or things done or said (or both) which constituted circumstances of an
extremely grave character, and caused D to have a justifiable sense of
being seriously wronged (the ‘seriously wronged’ trigger). The second
qualifying trigger requires D to fear serious violence from V against D or
another identified person (the ‘fear’ trigger).
193The Journal of Criminal Law (2012) 76 JCL 193–205
doi:10.1350/jcla.2012.76.3.766
To continue reading
Request your trial