Manslaughter; Causation: Supply of Drugs
| Author | Annabelle James,Vicky Thirlaway |
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2008.72.3.494 |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| Subject Matter | House of Lords |
House of Lords
Manslaughter; Causation: Supply of Drugs
R v Kennedy [2007] UKHL 38
Keywords Unlawful act manslaughter; Supply of drugs; Voluntary self-
administration of drugs; Significant cause of death
The appellant was convicted of manslaughter and of supplying a Class A
drug (heroin) to another contrary to s. 4(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act
1971. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on the first count
and three years’ imprisonment on the second count, to run concur-
rently. The convictions arose out of the death of the victim, B, who died
as a result of ‘inhalation of gastric contents while acutely intoxicated by
opiates and alcohol’ (at [3]). On 10 September 1996, the appellant
visited the room occupied by the victim and his friend, C, who had been
drinking together. According to the evidence of C, B told the appellant
that he wanted ‘a bit to make him sleep’. The appellant had told the
victim to take care that he did not go to sleep permanently. The appellant
prepared a syringe of heroin and gave it to the victim. The victim
injected himself and returned the empty syringe to the appellant, who
then left the room. The victim then appeared to stop breathing and was
pronounced dead when he was taken to hospital.
The appellant was granted leave to appeal against his manslaughter
conviction but his first appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on
31 July 1998 ([1999] Crim LR 65). The appellant then applied to the
Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) who referred the case back
to the Court of Appeal under s. 9 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. The
second appeal was heard on 31 January 2005 and dismissed on 17
March of the same year (R vKennedy (No. 2) [2005] EWCA Crim 685,
[2005] 1 WLR 2159). This was challenged by the appellant on a point
of law and therefore was heard by the House of Lords in the instant
case. The question certified by the Court of Appeal was as follows
(see at [2]):
When is it appropriate to find someone guilty of manslaughter where that
person has been involved in the supply of a class A controlled drug, which
is then freely and voluntarily self-administered by the person to whom it
was supplied, and the administration of the drug then causes his death?
H
ELD
,
ALLOWING THE APPEAL
and quashing the appellant’s man-
slaughter conviction, ‘The answer to the certified question is: “In the
case of a fully informed and responsible adult, never”’.
C
OMMENTARY
Prior to commenting on the successful appeal in the instant case, it is
necessary to examine the background to the case, the rationale behind
the initial establishing of causation and, in particular, the reasoning of
the Court of Appeal in Kennedy (No. 2).
203The Journal of Criminal Law (2008) 72 JCL 203–205
doi:1350/jcla.2008.72.3.494
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