R v Thornton (No 2)
Battered woman syndrome could be relevant to provocation, both to whether there was a loss of self control and to the reasonable person test.
Facts
Sara Thornton suffered violence and abuse from her alcoholic husband. One night, after he threatened her, she went into the kitchen, sharpened a knife and stabbed him, killing him. Her conviction for murder was upheld on appeal in 1992. The case was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Home Secretary, with fresh evidence that she had been suffering from battered woman syndrome and a personality disorder.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal quashed the murder conviction and ordered a retrial. Lord Taylor CJ said that battered woman syndrome could be relevant to provocation in two ways: it might form an important background to whatever triggered the loss of self control, and it might be a characteristic of the defendant relevant to the reasonable person test. At the retrial in 1996, Ms Thornton was convicted of manslaughter and released, having already served the sentence.
Related cases on murder and voluntary manslaughter
- Attorney General for Jersey v Holley [2005] UKPC 23, [2005] 2 AC 580
- R v Ahluwalia [1992] 4 All ER 889
- R v Asmelash [2013] EWCA Crim 157, [2014] QB 103
- R v Byrne [1960] 2 QB 396
- R v Challen [2019] EWCA Crim 916
- R v Clinton [2012] EWCA Crim 2, [2013] QB 1
- R v Dawes; R v Hatter; R v Bowyer [2013] EWCA Crim 322, [2014] 1 WLR 947
- R v Dietschmann [2003] UKHL 10, [2003] 1 AC 1209
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