Loss of Control

• What are the elements that have to be satisfied to use loss of control as a defence?

  • The defendant must have lost self-control.
  • There must be a qualifying trigger.
  • A person of the same sex and age would have reacted in the same way as the defendant in the same circumstances.
• What does it mean for the defendant to lose self-control?

  S.54(2) of the 2009 Act sets out loss of control doesn’t have to be sudden.  It will for the jury to decide if the defendant had a total loss of control as a partial one isn’t sufficient. Temper or anger aren’t sufficient, D must have totally lost it. Where the D has the normal capacity of self-restraint, any anger will not satisfy loss of control
• What is a case that highlights the D loosing self-control?

  R v Jewell: the D shot the victim then fled, when he was arrested the cops found a survival kit in his car. There was insufficient evidence for loss of control as he was almost planning it before hand due to the survival kit
• What the qualifying triggers for loss of control?

  Set out in S.55 Criminal Justice Act 2009

  • The D must fear serious violence from the V
  • Things said or done that constituted circumstances of extremely grave character or caused the D to have a justifiable sense of being wronged. Sexual infidelity isn’t a trigger
• What does it mean to use the qualifying trigger of the D must face serious violence from the V (use cases)?

  The D doesn’t have to fear serious violence from the V. Fear of violence on another can suffice

  R V Ward: The D feared violence towards his brother from the victim so he attacked with a pickaxe 

  The D cannot rely on the fear of violence when the D has started the violence 

  R v Dawes: D came home to find his wife cheating on him with the V so he stabbed and killed the V. However, he couldn’t rely on the fear of violence as he started the violence
• What does it mean to use the qualifying trigger of things said or done?

  This is the anger trigger and it is an objective test, so the jury will decide whether a reasonable person would lose control or not
• How can R v Zebedee be used for the qualifying trigger of things said or done?

  R v Zebedee: The D lost control when his elderly father with Alzheimers soiled himself so he killed him. The courts didn’t think the D had a justifiable sense of being wronged or had circumstances that constituted for a extremely grave character
• How can R v Bowyer be used for the qualifying trigger of things said or done?

  The D and V were both dating a prostate and the V was her pimp and D didn’t know she was a prostitute. D went to burgle the V’s house and a fight broke out between them. V told D about her being a prostitute and the D beat him up and tied him up (left alive) but died next day. Count use the defence as there was no sense of being wronged and no grave character circumstances 
• What are the normal standards for self-control?

  • The D is expected to show a normal degree of self control and tolerance and being hot-tempered cannot be taken into account. This is an objective test
  • Those of the same sex and age would act similarly in the same circumstances
• What are some of the characteristics to consider for loss of self control?

  age, sex, circumstances, depression, history of sexual abuse but being intoxicated voluntarily cannot be.