Loss of Control

Coroners and Justice Act 2009 - 'not gulty of murder if: defendant's acts/omissions resulted from the loss of control, loss of control had a qualifying trigger, and a person of the defendant's age ad sex, with a normal degree of tolerance and self restraint, would have reacted in the same/similar way.

1) loss of self control - may be a time delay but longer = less likely to be believed. Ibrams and Gregory - will be no defence where D is motivated by revenge (4 day delay), Ahluwalia - D waited till husband went to sleep - unsuccessful. Bailie - successful - V remained out of control during time delay. Thornton - 'last straw' could trigger final loss of control.

2) qualifying triggers - 1) fear from serious violence from victim - subjective test and doesn't need to be any violence, objective assessment of what 'serious' is - Ahluwallia - V was asleep. 2) things done/said which constituted circumstances of grave character and gave D sense of being seriously wronged - anger trigger - more restrictive than previou law - Doughty - under previous law a crying baby was said to ammount to provocation. 3) combination of both triggers. 3) restrictions - incitemet, revenge, sexual infidelity - but Clinton - not total exlusion if there are other things done or said that contributed to D's loss of control.

4) objective test - Camplin - 15yr old boy killed 'reasonable man' test not confined to adult male. Mohammed - D's bad temper was disregarded when considering what reasoable man would have done. Holley - alcholism & depression aren't relevant characteristics for objective test as affect capacity for tolerance.

5) burden - D must raise sufficient evidence for defence - if evidence is put to jury, burden of disproving it beyond all reasonable doubt is on the prosecution