R v White
A defendant is not guilty of murder if the victim would have died anyway, because his act was not a factual cause of death.
Facts
Mr White put potassium cyanide into his mother's drink, intending to kill her so that he could inherit her property. She drank a small amount, and was found dead shortly afterwards. Medical evidence showed that she had died of a heart attack, not from the poison, and that the amount she drank would not have killed her. He was acquitted of murder but convicted of attempted murder.
Legal principle
The Court of Criminal Appeal upheld his conviction for attempted murder. He could not be guilty of murder, because his act was not the cause of his mother's death: she would have died at that time even if he had done nothing. The case illustrates the but for test of factual causation, which asks whether the result would have occurred but for the defendant's conduct.
Related cases on causation
- Baker v Willoughby [1970] AC 467
- Barker v Corus UK Ltd [2006] UKHL 20, [2006] 2 AC 572
- Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee [1969] 1 QB 428
- Bonnington Castings Ltd v Wardlaw [1956] AC 613
- Chester v Afshar [2004] UKHL 41, [2005] 1 AC 134
- Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd [2002] UKHL 22, [2003] 1 AC 32
- Gregg v Scott [2005] UKHL 2, [2005] 2 AC 176
- Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority [1987] AC 750
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