Manslaughter: voluntary and involuntary
Manslaughter is an unlawful killing without the intent required for murder, or a killing with that intent where a partial defence applies. It is tried in the Crown Court and carries a maximum of life imprisonment.
Two kinds of manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is a killing with the intent for murder where a partial defence succeeds: diminished responsibility (Homicide Act 1957 s.2), loss of control (Coroners and Justice Act 2009 ss.54 to 56) or a suicide pact (Homicide Act 1957 s.4). The defence must prove diminished responsibility on the balance of probabilities; once loss of control is properly raised, the prosecution must disprove it. The jury returns a verdict of manslaughter instead of murder (see Murder: what the prosecution must prove, defences and sentence).
Involuntary manslaughter is a killing without intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. There are two main forms:
- Unlawful act manslaughter (sometimes called constructive manslaughter). The prosecution must prove a deliberate act that was itself a crime, that the act was dangerous in the sense that all sober and reasonable people would recognise it carried the risk of some harm (R v Church [1966]; DPP v Newbury and Jones [1977]), and that it caused the death. The defendant need not have foreseen death or serious harm. A single punch causing a fatal fall is a classic example.
- Gross negligence manslaughter. The prosecution must prove that the defendant owed the deceased a duty of care, breached it, that the breach exposed the deceased to a serious and obvious risk of death that was reasonably foreseeable at the time, that it caused the death, and that the breach was so bad as to be criminal (R v Adomako [1995]; R v Rose [2017]). It often arises in medical, workplace and care settings.
Companies and organisations can be prosecuted separately for corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
Court and sentence
Manslaughter is indictable only and tried in the Crown Court. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment. The Sentencing Council has separate guidelines for unlawful act, gross negligence, loss of control and diminished responsibility manslaughter, which turn on culpability and harm. A life sentence must be imposed, unless there are exceptional circumstances, where an offender aged 16 or over commits manslaughter (other than by gross negligence or under a partial defence) of an emergency worker acting in the course of their duties.
In practice
Whether a case is charged as murder or manslaughter often turns on intent, causation and medical evidence. Early specialist advice, and careful scrutiny of the pathology, can change the charge.
Authorities: Homicide Act 1957 ss.2, 4; Coroners and Justice Act 2009 ss.52, 54 to 56; R v Church [1966] 1 QB 59; DPP v Newbury and Jones [1977] AC 500; R v Adomako [1995] 1 AC 171; R v Rose [2017] EWCA Crim 1168; Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007; Sentencing Act 2020 ss.258A, 274A, 285A (inserted by Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 s.3); Sentencing Council, Manslaughter definitive guidelines (in force 1 November 2018)