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19 March 2020 / Simon Parsons
Issue: 7879 / Categories: Features , Criminal
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Involuntary manslaughter

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17909
Gross negligence manslaughter: when is there a serious & obvious risk of death? Simon Parsons examines the evidence
  • It is unclear whether the courts want to reduce or expand the scope of the gross negligence manslaughter.

Involuntary manslaughter is unlawful homicide without the mens rea for murder but with some lesser degree of mens rea or negligence. A person need not being acting involuntarily to be liable for this form of manslaughter. One head of liability is gross negligence manslaughter which will be prosecuted where the defendant’s act is lawful in itself or where death is the result of a failure to act. It is a common law offence which has been shaped by the judges over many years.

The high authority for the offence is Adomako [1995] 1 AC 171 in which the House of Lords restated the law which was first set out in Bateman (1925) 19 Cr App R 8. This stabilised the offence and there was little judicial development of the offence after Evans [2009]

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