Discuss the Possible Liability of Harry for the Murder of Matt

Discuss the possible liability of Harry for the Murder of Matt.

Harry could be charged with murder but could plead diminished responsibility diminished responsibility or loss of control as a partial defence.

AR of murder is the unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in begin under the queen's peace. Unlawful means without jusfifcation or excuse. It is lawful to kill in self defence as long as reasonable force is used Clegg. Harry has no legal justification as there was no self defence. The victim (V) must be a reasonable creature in begin which means not a foetus nor braindead Malcherek . He must die as murder is a result crime. It must be under the queen's peace and not during war time. V is alive and died due to the result of the murder and not a fetus and therefore is a reasonable creature in begin, the murder occurred under the queen's peace. The killing must be an act or omission. The D has committed an omission by creating a dangerous environment and failed to act as seen by Miller This is seen by the D creating a fire and failing to stop it spreading which leads to the death of the V.

Causation must be proved. Factual causation is established by the but for test White. Legal causations means there are no breaks in the chain of causation and the D is the operative and substantial cause Smith. There are no breaks of causations between setting the fire and matt’s clothes catching alight which caused the burns and death.

The MR of murder is intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. There are two types of MR direct and oblique, direct intention is where the D sets his aims and goals and accomplishes them as seen by Mohan, Oblique intention is where the D sees his actions as virtually certainty and continue anyway Woollin. However in Matthews & Alleyne the courts decided that foresight of consequences is not the same as intent, it's just evidence from which intent can be found. Intention to cause GBH is sufficient MR for murder...