Betts and Ridley agreed to rob a man on thw way to the bank. Betts was to push him to the ground and snatch the bag, while Ridley waited nearby in a car. When snatching the bag, Betts struck the victim who later died. Betts and Ridley were both convicted of murder.
Held: At common law, a person who commits a felony involving personal violence, does so at his own risk, and is guilty of murder if the violence results, even inadvertently, in the death of the victim. Ridley was in the circumstances a principal in the second degree to the robbery with violence which in fact took place: ‘and although it might be true to say that he had not agreed before-hand that Andrews should be struck upon the head in a way likely to cause his death, it is clear upon the authorities that if he was a party to this felonious act of robbery with violence – some violence – and that the other person, the principal in the first degree, in the course of carrying out that common design does an act which causes the death, then the principal in the second degree is equally responsible in law.’ Even if Betts did vary the manner of execution of the plan, since it was a plan to rob which involved some degree of violence, Ridley being present as a principal in the second degree was equally responsible.
Judges:
Avory J
Citations:
(1931) 22 Cr App R 148
Citing:
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Beard HL 1920
The accused raped a girl aged thirteen whilst he was drunk. He placed his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming, but without any intention of injuring her. He caused her death by suffocation, and was convicted of murder. It was argued on his . .
Cited by:
Cited – Moses v The State PC 29-Jul-1996
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant had been convicted under the felony murder rule, where if a victim dies in the course of the defendant committing a felony, the defendant is guilty of murder.
Held: The distinction between felony and murder . .
Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Cited – Foster and Another v The Queen PC 23-Jan-2007
(Barbados) The appellants had been convicted under the felony murder rule, before its abolition in Barbados in 1994. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188589
