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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions >> Burgess, R. v [2008] EWCA Crim 516 (08 February 2008) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2008/516.html Cite as: [2008] EWCA Crim 516 |
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CRIMINAL DIVISION
Strand London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
(PRESIDENT OF THE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION)
MR JUSTICE DAVIS
MR JUSTICE DAVID CLARKE
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R E G I N A | ||
v | ||
LEE BURGESS | ||
JEFFREY BYRAM |
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Mr P Williams appeared on behalf of the Applicant Byram
Mr R Mansell appeared on behalf of the Crown
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Crown Copyright ©
"When is it appropriate to find someone guilty of manslaughter where that person has been involved in the supply of a Class A controlled drug, which is then freely and voluntarily self-administered by the person to whom it was supplied and the administration of the drug then causes his death?"
The response of the House of Lords was very clear and simple: "In the case of a fully informed and responsible adult never." In reaching its conclusion the House of Lords referred to another decision of the court, R v Rogers [2003] 1 WLR 1374. In Rogers it was the deceased who bought heroin for himself and for Rogers. He placed the heroin into two syringes. He injected Rogers and then, while Rogers held his belt round the deceased's arm as a tourniquet, he, the deceased, injected himself. Again it was a fatal dose. Rodgers was convicted of manslaughter. The House of Lords considered that Rogers was wrongly decided.
"It is possible to imagine factual scenarios in which two people could properly be regarded as acting together to administer an injection."
"While serving a sentence of 10 years, including a sentence of 9 years for robbery committed while on bail you escaped from custody."
Those last four words we now know were inaccurate. It should read: "You failed to return to custody". It makes no difference to the impact on sentence. The Single Judge then continued:
"You then embarked upon a series of burglaries characteristically directed at elderly and vulnerable people. The further sentence was not excessive."
We agree with the Single Judge. We agree with the Recorder of Sheffield who took a very strong view about the criminality involved in this case. Accordingly the renewed application for leave to appeal against sentence is refused.