In cases such as stabbings and physical actions which cause death, its easy to determine MR. However trying to establish MR when the primary intention was not to kill is difficult, because only the defendant knows what his actual intentions were and in some cases (Maloney) the defendant didn't even know himself.
Currently, a person who intends to cause serious harm and actually kills his victim is guilty of murder. In Hancock and Shankland the defendants said that they only intended to block the road, not cause serious harm, and definately not death. (convicted of murder, but appealed and changed to manslaughter)
it has been suggested that we "codify" criminal law - this means murder would be included in a new legislation. it was proposed that a person is only guilty of murder if he causes the of another with intention or intention to cause serious personal harm and having an awareness that death may occur. (No attempt at codifying criminal law has occured yet most likely due to lack of parliamentry time)
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