Key Cases

• R V White

  A man put arsenic (poison )into his mothers tea in order to kill her. She coincidentally died of a heart attack.

  
• R V Pagett

  A man held his pregnant girlfriend hostage while on a dark stairwell and fired at armed police. When they returned fire he held her in front of him as a human shield and she was killed.
• R V Smith

  Smith stabbed a soldier with a bayonet during an argument .The victim was rushed to the medical centre and while being carried was dropped from the stretcher twice. When he got to the centre the doctor did not give him the right treatment and he died.
• R v Cheshire

  The defendant shot the victim who was taken to the hospital , where he later suffered breathing problems which lead to a tracheotomy and he died from medical complications.
• R V Hayward

  This is an example of the thin skull rule where the defendant chased his wife during an argument and she collapsed and died as this activated an unknown heart defect.