R v Gotts
Duress is not a defence to attempted murder, because the defendant must have intended to kill, which is more culpable than many murders.
Facts
Mr Gotts, aged 16, was threatened by his father, who said that he would shoot him unless he killed his mother, who had left the father and was living in a refuge. Mr Gotts stabbed his mother, seriously injuring her, but she survived. He was charged with attempted murder, and the judge ruled that duress was not available as a defence.
Legal principle
The House of Lords upheld the conviction, by a majority of three to two. Lord Jauncey said that the reasoning in R v Howe applied equally to attempted murder, because the intention required for attempted murder, an intention to kill, is more serious than for murder itself, which can be committed with an intention to cause grievous bodily harm. It would be anomalous to allow duress as a defence to attempted murder, where the defendant intended to kill, but not to murder. Lord Keith and Lord Lowry dissented.
Related cases on defences: self defence, duress and necessity
- Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) [2001] Fam 147
- Beckford v The Queen [1988] AC 130
- R (Collins) v Secretary of State for Justice [2016] EWHC 33 (Admin), [2016] QB 862
- R v Bowen [1997] 1 WLR 372
- R v Clegg [1995] 1 AC 482
- R v Conway [1989] QB 290
- R v Dudley and Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273
- R v Graham [1982] 1 WLR 294
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