R v Weightman
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 18 October 1990 |
| Date | 18 October 1990 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice McCowan, Mr Justice Jupp and Mr Justice Owen
Criminal evidence - admissibility - psychiatrists
Evidence of psychiatrists was inadmissible where its purpose was, in effect, to tell a jury how a person who was not suffering from mental illness was likely to react to the stresses and strains of life. That principle was derived from the cases, notably R v Turner (Terence)ELR ((1975) QB 834),
The Court of Appeal so stated when dismissing the appeal of Beverley Anne Weightman against her conviction on December 20, 1989 at Leicester Crown Court, before Mr Justice Tucker and a jury, of the murder of her child aged two.
Mr Nigel Baker, QC, assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals, for the appellant; Mr James Hunt, QC and Mr David Price for the Crown.
LORD JUSTICE McCOWAN, giving the judgment of the court, said that three months after a verdict of accidental death had been recorded, the appellant confessed to her husband and probation officer that she had suffocated the child deliberately.
The central issue at trial was whether the confessions were true. An application to call a psychiatrist to give evidence was refused on the ground that to allow scientific or medical evidence to be called in a case where there was no...
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