R v Angeline Mitchell
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Gillen LJ |
| Judgment Date | 30 April 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | [2015] NICA 34 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
| Date | 30 April 2015 |
| Year | 2015 |
1
Neutral Citation No. [2015] NICA 34
Ref:
GIL9609
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
Delivered:
30/4/2015
(subject to editorial corrections)*
IN HER MAJESTY’S COURT OF APPEAL IN NORTHERN IRELAND
________
THE QUEEN
-v-
ANGELINE MITCHELL
________
Before: GIRVAN LJ, COGHLIN LJ and GILLEN LJ
________
GILLEN LJ (delivering the judgment of the Court)
[1] This is an application by Angeline Mitchell for leave to appeal against her
conviction on 20 October 2010 by a jury of the murder of Anthony Robin (‘the
deceased’) on 11 May 2009. The applicant was sentenced to life imprisonment, the
life sentence tariff being fixed at a minimum period to be served of 12 years.
[2] The applicant lodged her appeal against conviction on 24 January 2014. On
6 March 2014 Higgins LJ granted the application to extend time. Maguire J granted
leave to appeal on ground 4 and refused leave on grounds 1-3 (see paragraph [35] of
this judgment).
[3] Under section 4 of the Contempt of Court Act 1991, this court has concluded
that in order to avoid a substantial risk of prejudice to the administration of justice in
these proceedings it is necessary to order that the publication of this judgment or
any report of this hearing be postponed until further order of this court.
Factual Background
[4] The deceased and the applicant were friends and then partners. Their
relationship was a turbulent and volatile affair blighted by frequent abuse of alcohol,
quarrels, public abuse and some actual violence.
2
[5] The relationship had been in a period of suspension just prior to the death of
the deceased. However the two of them had agreed to meet the previous weekend
and then a further agreement led to the meeting on the day of the killing, Sunday
10 May 2010. They shared food and drink at a nearby hotel and then came back to
the flat where the deceased’s flatmate and girlfriend were present.
[6] After midnight on 10 May, the deceased, in the wake of a telephone call from
his ex-wife, attended at her home in the presence of the applicant in order to deal
with a problem concerning one of his sons. The police had been summoned before
their arrival and the son had been arrested and taken away.
[7] Shortly thereafter the deceased returned to his flat in the company of the
applicant and his younger son Thomas.
[8] In the early hours of the morning a simmering quarrel erupted between the
deceased and the applicant arising out of the arrest of his elder son. By this stage his
flatmate and partner had gone to bed. Thomas was due to sleep on the sofa in the
living-room.
[9] Whilst the exact sequence of events thereafter became a matter of some
dispute at this hearing, it seems that the applicant left the living-room bent on
vacating the house altogether. The deceased followed her out to the landing area
where the quarrel continued. In the course of the quarrel she claimed the deceased
had called her names and verbally abused her suggesting she was a “tout” and was
sleeping with older men.
[10] The applicant alleged that she was struck by the deceased, put to the ground
and at one stage was being strangled. She also alleged that he took a canoe paddle
and was hitting her with it. It should be observed at this stage that whilst the
applicant was medically examined at the police station she betrayed little if any sign
of injury relevant to the allegations she made.
[11] It is clear that at some stage she entered the kitchen of the flat and there took a
knife into her possession.
[12] It is common case that the applicant thereafter stabbed the deceased a number
of times with the medical evidence revealing stab wounds to the chest (which in fact
was the fatal blow), the left side of the scalp, the right of the scalp and upper left
back. There was also an incised wound in the front of the left ear. After being
stabbed it appears the deceased made his way to the living-room but within a short
time he was dead.
[13] The police were summoned at 03.34 hours and death was pronounced at 04.12
hours.
To continue reading
Request your trial
2 cases
-
R v Mitchell
...UKSC 55 THE SUPREME COURT Michaelmas Term On appeal from: [2015] NICA 34 Lord Kerr Lord Clarke Lord Hughes Lord Toulson Lord Hodge R (Respondent) and Mitchell (Northern Ireland) Appellant Liam McCollum QC David Russell (Instructed by Public Prosecution Service) Respondent Frank O'Donoghue ......
-
R v James Seales and Stephen Charles McCaughey
...of the witness’s evidence, the circumstances of the case and the issues raised. [50] Moreover as this court reiterated in R v Mitchell [2015] NICA 34 at paragraph [43], provided the Judge fairly reviews the essential features of the evidence, the structure of his summing up cannot be impugn......
2 books & journal articles
-
Northern Ireland Dimensions to the First Decade of the United Kingdom Supreme Court
...Evidence Act 1984, s 78(1); Police and Criminal Evidence (NI) Order1989, art 76(1).115 n 85 above.116 For the NICA’s decision see [2015] NICA 34 per Girvan, Coghlin and Gillen LJJ; Gillen LJdelivered the judgment of the Court.117 n 85 above at [43]-[44].118 ibid at [57].119 n 84 above. Alth......
-
Non-conviction Bad Character Evidence and Directions to the Jury on Use to Show Propensity R v Mitchell [2016] UKSC 55
...role in the determinationof this case, it merit[ed] some extensive recitation from the learned trial Judge’s charge on this issue’([2015] NICA 34, at [30]). The judge had explained that the BCE had essentially been admitted in twoparts. First, there were five incidents of disputed BCE admit......