The claimant, formerly known as Peter Sutcliffe, had been convicted in 1981 for thirteen murders and 7 attempted murders. His plea of diminished responsibility was rejected. The judge had recommended a minimum term of 30 years for the life sentence, but later recommended that life should mean life, and that he should never therefore be released. Bingham LJ later recommended a fixed term of years. In 2010, the court had decided that he should serve a whole life minimum term. He now sought leave to appeal.
Held: Leave was refused. The psychiatric diagnoses and evidence was derived from the defendant’s own accounts and he had been shown to be a skilled and calculating liar. Under the 2003 Act, the onus was not on the prosecution to disprove the contents of such reports. ‘ we do not accept that the effect of the burden of proof in the context of diminished responsibility should lead us to approach the decision of the jury as if diminished responsibility was neither established by the defendant, nor disproved by the prosecution. The entire case, whether of substantial impairment of responsibility for the purposes of trial, or indeed mental disorder as potential mitigation for the purposes of paragraph 11(c) of schedule 21, depended and continued to depend on the appellant’s assertion that his actions were the result, as he genuinely believed, of divine inspiration. It is clear to us that this account was rejected by the jury.’ There Was no reason to think that the defendant’s assertions his belief in divine command should carry any greater weight than they did when rejected at his trial.
Lord Judge LCJ, Calvert-Smith J, Griffith Williams J
[2011] EWCA Crim 5
Bailii
Criminal Justice Act 2003 276
England and Wales
Citing:
Original Appeal – Regina v Sutcliffe (Peter) CACD 24-May-1982
The defendant appealed against his conviction for 13 murders and 7 attempted murders saying that his plea of diminished responsibility should not have been rejected.
Held: The appeal failed. Lord Lane CJ said: ‘The psychiatrists all . .
Appeal from – Regina v Coonan (Formerly Sutcliffe) QBD 16-Jul-2010
The respondent had been convicted of thirteen murders and eight attempted murders. He had claimed to have been acting in response to a divine voice heard when he worked in a graveyard. He was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic. The murders had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Sentencing
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.428035