Loss of control: ‘sufficient evidence’
| Author | Tony Storey |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018314563892 |
| Published date | 01 February 2015 |
| Date | 01 February 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Court of Appeal |
Court of Appeal
Loss of control: ‘sufficient evidence’
RvJewell [2014] EWCA Crim 414, Court of Appeal
RvWorkman [2014] EWCA Crim 575, Court of Appeal
RvBarnsdale-Quean [2014] EWCA Crim 1418, Court of Appeal
Keywords
Murder, voluntary manslaughter, loss of control, sufficient evidence
In RvJewell, DarrenJewell (J) had driven to the Essexhome of his colleague Anthony Prickett (P) in May
2011,ostensibly to pick him up for work.However, when J arrived at P’s house,J shot P at point blank range,
twice, with his father’s shotgun, first in the abdomen and then in the head. J then fled the scene but was
arrested that afternoon after the policeforced his car off the road south of Edinburgh. The car contained a
loaded home-made‘zip’ gun capable of firing .22ammunition, eight rounds of spareammunition, and what
the Crown described as a ‘survival kit’:a rucksack holding spare clothes, a tent, severalknives, two cans of
CS gas, a passport,a driving licence and a chequebook. J was charged with murder and appeared before a
judge and juryat Chelmsford Crown Courtin January 2012. The Crown case wasthat it was a premeditated
killing. J pleaded not guilty to murderon the basis of lack of mens rea. In policeinterviews, J claimed that
various unknownpeople (although P may have beenone of them) had intimidated him,and that P had insi-
nuated thathe (J) only had ‘two days left’to live. J asserted that theevening before the shootinghe had gone
to his father’s houseand borrowed the shotgun and ammunition. J had stayed up all night with theshotgun
and had written to neighbours leaving his keys and asking them to feed his cat, before leaving home that
morningin his van. He admitted shootingP, but denied doing so intentionally;he had shot P ‘as if in a dream’
(at [4]). After theshooting, J fled the scene, disposed of the shotgun,ran to his father’s house and took his
father’s car,and drove to Scotland wherehe intended to live before committing suicide. At histrial, J main-
tainedthat he had not intentionallyshot P. He told that jury thatwhen he got out of his van outsideP’s house,
‘I did it becauseI lost control. I could not controlmy actions. I could not thinkstraight. My head was fucked
up. It was likean injection in the head, an explosionin my head’ (at [19]). The trial judge consideredwhether
to direct the juryon the Loss of Control defence, but in the end held thatthere was insufficient evidenceof J
havinglost his self-controlto leave the defence to thejury. J was convicted of murderand appealed, contend-
ing that the trial judge should have directed the jury onthe defence of Loss of Control.
In RvWorkman, Ian Workman (W) stabbed his estranged wife of 35 years, Sue Workman (S), to
death in the kitchen of their farmhouse in Lancashire, in April 2011. He was charged with murder and
appeared before Mr Justice Christopher Clarke and a jury at Preston Crown Court in December 2011.
The Crown case was that W had deliberately stabbed S to death ‘because she was defying him’ (at
[17]). The defence case was that S had ‘accidentally’ stabbed herself to death in the course of a struggle.
In police interview, W asserted that he had returned to the farmhouse to collect some belongings. They
began quarrelling and W criticised S’s treatment of their eldest son. Shortly afterwards, S had ‘exploded
in anger’ (at [9]) and charged at W holding a kitchen knife in her right hand. W had managed to avoid the
attack and got behind S, with his left arm around her neck and his right hand holding her right arm or
wrist. At some point in the struggle, S had ‘accidentally’ stabbed herself in the heart with the knife. The
jury convicted W of murder. He appealed, contending inter alia that the trial judge, Clarke J, should have
directed the jury on the defence of Loss of Control.
The Journal of Criminal Law
2015, Vol. 79(1) 6–19
ªThe Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018314563892
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