R v Sanders

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date26 April 1991
Date26 April 1991
CourtCourt of Appeal (Criminal Division)

Court of Appeal

Regina
and
Sanders

Criminal evidence - diminished responsibility - other circumstances

Diminished responsibility defence

Where an issue of diminished responsibility was raised at the trial of a defendant charged with murder, unequivocal and uncontradicted medical evidence favourable to the defendant should be accepted by a jury if there were no other circumstances to consider, and they should be so directed.

However, where there were other circumstances to be considered, the medical evidence, though unequivocal and uncontradicted, had to be assessed in the light of those other circumstances.

The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Watkins, Mr Justice Boreham and Mr Justice Tucker) so stated on April 22, when dismissing the appeal of Leonard John Sanders against his conviction on February 9, 1991 at Maidstone Crown Court (Mr Justice McKinnon and a jury) of murder on which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

LORD JUSTICE...

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9 cases
  • Wendy Graham Against Her Majesty's Advocate
    • United Kingdom
    • High Court of Justiciary
    • 2 October 2018
    ...evidence of a medical kind”) although the jury did not have to accept it (R v Byrne (supra); Walton v R [1978] AC 788; Sanders v R (1991) 93 Cr App R 245). If the latter were true, it may be that medical evidence was not required at all (see R v Dietschmann (supra) at para 41). A psychologi......
  • R v Michael Brennan
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
    • 22 July 2015
    ...of diminished responsibility finds a convenient, if broad, summation in the decision of a constitution of this court in R v SandersUNK(1991) 93 CrAppR 245. There the expert evidence called by the defence in favour of diminished responsibility again was uncontradicted. The conviction of murd......
  • Adderley v R
    • Bahamas
    • Court of Appeal (Bahamas)
    • 31 May 2017
    ...R v. Garnet Roberts [1991] BHS J. No. 7 Considered R v. Kiszko (1979) 68 Cr. App. R. 62 Mentioned R v. Leonard John Sanders [1991] 93 Cr. App. R. 245 Considered R v. Matheson [1958] 2 All ER 87 Considered R v. Rodney William Bailey [1978] 66 Cr. App. R. 31 Considered R v. Shaun Dani......
  • R v Gary Norman Millson
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
    • 9 July 1993
    ...We were referred to R v Matheson 42 Cr App R 145, R v Byrne 44 Cr App R 246, R v Bailey 66 Cr App R 31, Walton v R [1978] AC 788, R v Sanders 93 Cr App R 245, and ( R v Robinson 28 January 1992, unreported). It is enough to quote from three of those cases. First, from what Lord Keith of Kin......
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2 books & journal articles
  • Table of Cases
    • United Kingdom
    • International Journal of Evidence & Proof, The No. 13-4, November 2009
    • 1 November 2009
    .... . . 279R vS and A[2008] EWCA Crim2177 . . . . . . . . . . 69R vSadler [2008] VSCA198. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65R vSanders (1991) 93Cr App R245. . . . . . . . . . . 92R vSellick [2005] EWCACrim 651 . . . . . . . . . . 235R vSharpe [1988] 1WLR 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......
  • Diminished responsibility: Jury verdicts and ‘uncontradicted’ psychiatric evidence
    • United Kingdom
    • Journal of Criminal Law, The No. 79-1, February 2015
    • 1 February 2015
    ...to overturn the jury’s verdict of guilty to murder, despite evi- dence supporting a plea of diminished responsibility in R v Sanders (1991) 93 Cr App R 245 and R vEifinger [2001] EWCA Crim 1855. In the former case, Watkins LJ explained that there were ‘two clearprinciples’ applicable in all......

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