R v Richens
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 05 November 1992 |
| Date | 05 November 1992 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Taylor of Gosforth, Lord Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hutchison and Mr Justice Holland
Crime - murder - provocation plea - lies not fatal to defence
Lies and attempts to cover up a killing were not necessarily inconsistent with a defence of provocation, for one who killed by reason of loss of self-control and thereby faced possibly lengthy imprisonment might have almost as strong reasons for attempting to conceal his deed as one who killed deliberately.
The Court of Appeal so held when allowing an appeal by Andrew Ronald Manuel Richens, now aged 23, from conviction in March 1988 at the Central Criminal Court (Mr Justice Pain and a jury) of murder by stabbing William Choi after the appellant's girlfriend had complained that Choi had raped her.
A verdict of manslaughter was substituted and sentence of seven years was passed in place of life imprisonment.
Sir Jonah Walker-Smith, who did not appear below, for the appellant; Mr Godfrey Carey, QC and Mr Richard Anelay for the Crown.
THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE, giving the reserved judgment of the court, said that when the appellant was aged 17 he caused the death of William Choi by stabbing him. The only issue for the jury was whether it was murder or, as the defence claimed, manslaughter by reason of provocation.
When seen by the police he lucidly and explicitly denied involvement, which he still denied when arrested. Later, in his solicitor's presence, he admitted that the deceased's body was buried in a field behind his parents' home and that he was responsible for the killing.
The deceased had come to the appellant's flat while he and the girl were there. As a result of what the deceased had said about her the appellant was enraged. He did not feel he was in control of himself.
Their Lordships could not confidently conclude that the jury would have understood references in a passage of the summing up to complete loss of control and such loss of control that the appellant really did not know what he was doing as embodying a correct direction about the requirements of a defence of provocation.
The jury were being invited to conider as potentially probative of the Crown's case of murder and as justifying the rejection of the appellant's account of provocation the facts that (i) he had tried to conceal his crime, (ii) he had lied about his involvement, and (iii) he had lied about his reasons for trying to cover up and lying...
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