Involuntary Manslaughter

The maximum sentence is life imprisonment, but there is no minimum sentence.

The act which causes the death must be an 'unlawful act' (a criminal offence) (R v Franklin).

An act that is the result of ignorance or foolishness will be insufficient if no criminal offence is committed (R v Lamb).

Any unlawful act is sufficient as long as it was likely to cause harm.

Apply the actus reus of the unlawful act.

An act is considered dangerous if a reasonable and sober person would recognise a risk of harm resulting from it (R v Church). Transferred malice can be sufficient to prove guilt (R v Mitchell).

A reasonable person is assumed to have the same knowledge as D and no more (R v Dawson).

If it is obvious that someone is vulnerable due to their physical state or age then a reasonable person would be expected to know this (R v Watson).

The unlawful and dangerous act must be the substantial cause of the death.

"But for" test (R v Pagett).

Significant contribution (R v Smith / R v Corion-Auguste)

Thin skull rule (R v Blaue)

Third party intervening acts (R v Cheshire / R v Jordan)

Victim's own act (R v Roberts / R v Williams / R v Lewis)

Acts of God

If death is drugs-based, and the drug was self-administered freely and voluntarily by a fully informed and responsible adult, then they are responsible for their own death (R v Kennedy / R v Evans (Gemma))

Apply the mens rea of the non-fatal offence.

Maximum sentence of life imprisonment but no minimum sentence.

D must owe a duty of care to the victim. There is no general duty of care, but Donoghue v Stevenson states that you must "take reasonable care to avoic acts or omissions which you foresee are likely to injure your neighbour".

There are six situations in which D has a duty to act. Statutory duty (Road Traffic Act 1988), Contractual duty (R v Pittwood), Duty because of a special relationship (R v Gibbins & Proctor / R v Adomako / R v Singh / R v Lichfield / R v Khan & Khan), Duty taken on voluntarily (R v Stone & Dobinson), Duty through an official position (R v Dytham), and Duty where D has created a dangerous situation and failed to remedy it (R v Miller / R v Evans (Gemma)).

D must have breached their duty of care by following below the standards of a reasonable person (Blyth v Birmingham City Waterworks), a reasonable learner (Nettleship v Weston), a reasonable expert (Bolam v Friern Hospital Management), or a reasonable child (Mullin v Richards).

The breach must have caused the death (R v HM Coroner for Inner London ex parte Douglas Williams) ~ explore causation.

The breach must amount to gross negligence ~ a "very high degree of negligence" (Andrews v DPP / R v Misra & Srivastrava).

It must go "beyond a matter of mere compensation and show such disregard for life as to amount to a crime against the State" (R v Bateman).