BCL associate Umar Azmeh’s Case Comment on R v Field (Benjamin Luke) [2021] EWCA Crim. 380 has been published in the latest edition of the Criminal Law Review.

The abstract to Umar’s piece is as follows:

Comments on R v Field (Benjamin Luke) (CA) on the voluntariness of consumption of alcohol, supplied with an undisclosed murderous intent, for the purpose of causation in a murder trial, and the appropriate jury direction. Considers the situation as one of deception as to the nature of the act.

In the Case Comment, Umar reviews the reasoning of the Court of Appeal in upholding the decision of the trial Judge that it ought to be open to the jury that, notwithstanding the fact that the victim voluntarily consumed the alcohol and/or medication that did kill him, the appellant could still be guilty of murder. A distinction was drawn between the scenario in this case and a situation such as that in Kennedy (No.2) [2007] UKHL 38: the crucial difference in this case was that the victim did not have an informed appreciation of the “truly perilous nature of what was occurring” (per Fulford LJ at [60]), namely that he was induced into a dangerous situation in the company of an individual with murderous intent.

The citation for the Case Comment is – (2021) 11 Crim LR 980 – and the full piece can be accessed on Westlaw.