The defendant had pleaded guilty, after a legal ruling, to a count of administering poison contrary to section 23 of the 1861 Act and a count of manslaughter. The court had found that the defendant physically assisted the deceased by holding his belt round the deceased’s arm as a tourniquet, so as to raise a vein in which the deceased could insert a syringe, while the deceased injected himself. It was argued in support of his appeal to the Court of Appeal that the defendant had committed no unlawful act for purposes of either count. The court was asked: ‘has a defendant, who applies and holds a tourniquet on the arm of a drug abuser, while he injects himself with heroin, any defence to a charge under section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 or to manslaughter if death results?’
Held: The appeal failed. Rose LJ said: ‘assessment of the appellant’s conduct as being that of a principal or secondary party cannot properly be made by having regard merely to the application of the tourniquet in isolation. It is artificial and unreal to separate the tourniquet from the injection. The purpose and effect of the tourniquet, plainly, was to raise a vein in which the deceased could insert the syringe. Accordingly, by applying and holding the tourniquet, the appellant was playing a part in the mechanics of the injection which caused death. It is therefore, as it seems to us, immaterial whether the deceased was committing a criminal offence.’
Rose LJ, VP CACD, Gross, Pitchers JJ
[2003] EWCA Crim 945, [2003] 2 Cr App R 10, [2003] 1 WLR 1374, [2003] All ER (D) 217
Bailii
Offences Against the Person Act 1861 23
England and Wales
Crime
Leading Case
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.245921