Gross Negligence Manslaughter

• Gross negligence manslaughter - Where D owes V a duty of care, breaches that duty and this causes V's death (Broughton)
• Stage 1: Does D owe V a duty of care?

  • Use neighbour test from Donoghue v Stevenson, include the relevant duty
  • Pitwood - Contractual duty
  • Dytham - Official position e.g. police
  • Gibbons v Proctor - Special relationship or voluntary duty
  • Miller - A duty to act because you created a dangerous situation
• Stage 2: Did D breach their duty of care?

  • Standard is the ordinary reasonable person with the same level of skill and experience, falling below this standard results in being in breach
• Stage 3: It is reasonably foreseeable that the breach would give rise to a serious and obvious risk of death

  • Rose - Must be an obvious risk of death, not just a possibility of something life threatening
  • Misra - D will only be liable if their breach results in a risk of death, a risk of harm is not enough
• Stage 4: The breach caused V's death

  • CIF: but for D’s acts, would V have suffered the consequences - White
  • CIL: morally responsible, more than a minimal cause, accelerated the death - Pagett
  • NAI: must be no intervening acts to break the chain of causation, bad medical treatment - Smith
  • Eggshell conditions - Blaue
• Stage 5: The act is grossly negligent

  • Adamako - D must have done something so bad that it amounts to a criminal offence