Automatism

• Full defence resulting in acquittal
• An act done by the muscles without any control by the mind, such as a spasm or convulsion (Bratty V AG)
• Burden of proof on prosecution to disprove it
• Total loss of control (Hill V Baxter)
• Not a reduced or partial loss of control (AG Ref No.2 1992)
• Must be an external factor
• External includes blows to the head, bees, hypnotism, drugs
• exceptional stress (R V T)
• If from external state of insulin (Quick)
• Sleep walking (Burgess)
• If self-induced, defence to specific intent crime not basic (Bailey)
• If basic intent crime, prosecution must prove def was reckless
• Cannot use defence if intoxicated (Majewski)
• If they dont know it will bring on an automatic state they haven't been reckless (Hardie)
• If def commits basic intent with prior intent can't rely on defence (Coley)