Report on Mandatory Sentences - Law Reform Commission

esponsible for the deaths. The second case was that of Derek Bentley who was sentenced to death in
1952 for the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles during a robbery. 22 Bentley was 19 years of age at
the time but had the mental capacity of an 11-year-old. His co-accused, 16-year-old Christopher Craig,
who had fired the fatal shot, was sentenced to detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure. Notwithstanding
a jury recommendation for mercy, Bentley was hanged in 1953. 23 The third case was that of Ruth Ellis
who was hanged in 1955 for the murder of her former lover, David Blakely. 24 Ellis was a young mother of
two, who led a “life that left much to be desired by suburban standards of morality”. 25 While she did not
deny the killing, it was argued on her behalf that she had shot Blakely after he had caused her to miscarry
their baby by punching her repeatedly in the abdomen. This did not, however, persuade the court to
amend the charge to one of manslaughter.
2.08 In 1956, a motion to retain the death penalty but change the law on murder was defeated in the
House of Lords, as was a Death Penalty (Abolition) Bill introduced by Sydney Silverman. 26 As a
compromise, the government introduced a Homicide Bill which was later enacted as the Homicide Act
1957. 27
2.09 The Homicide Act 1957 implemented some of the recommendations made by the Gowers
Commission. 28 It limited the scope of murder by abolishing the doctrine of “constructive malice” and
extending the defence of provocation to cover words as well as deeds. The Act also provided that in
cases involving suicide pacts, a surviving party should be liable only for the manslaughter (as opposed to
murder) of the victim. While it did not extend the defence of insanity under the 1843 M’Naghten Rules,
the Act did introduce the concept of “diminished responsibility”. Furthermore, contrary to the
recommendation of the Gowers Commission, it introduced degrees of murder. Certain types of murder,
designated “capital murder,” would continue to attract the death penalty 29 while other types of murder
would in future attract a mandatory life sentence. It has been noted that this proved to be an unstable
accessed: 22 May 2013]; and Martin “The Abolition of Capital Punishment” (1964-1965) 13 Chitty’s LJ 75 at
78-79.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Bentley [1993] EWHC QB 2; “The Killing of Derek
Bentley” The Guardian 31 July 1998; Allen “Comment: The Shocking Thing is, the Truth about Derek Bentley
was there all the Time” The Guardian 31 July 1998; and “Bentley Case Breakthrough” BBC News 6 November
1997. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/24208.stm [Last accessed: 22 May 2013].
Morris asserts that it was the idea that Bentley should hang while Craig went free that was repugnant to many
who were nevertheless in favour of capital punishment (see: Morris Crime and Criminal Justice since 1945
(Blackwell, 1989) at 81.
R v Ellis [2003] EWCA Crim 3556; Morris Crime and Criminal Justice since 1945 (Blackwell, 1989) at 83;
“Ruth Ellis murder verdict upheld...” The Guardian 9 December 2003; “Ruth Ellis: Villain or Victim” BBC News
30 November 1999. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/542186.stm [Last accessed: 22 May 2013];
and “On this day: 13 July 1955: Crowd outside prison appeals for Mrs Ellis” The Guardian 13 July 2009.
Morris Crime and Criminal Justice since 1945 (Blackwell, 1989) at 83.
Ibid at 84.
Ibid.
Shute “Punishing Murders: Release Procedures and the ‘Tariff’, 1953-2004” [2004] Crim LR 873 at 875; Smith
“The Penalty for Murder” (1988) 19 Cambrian Law Review 5 at 5-7; and Morris Crime and Criminal Justice
since 1945 (Blackwell, 1989) at 84-85.
These included murders committed in the course or furtherance of a theft; murders committed by means of
firearms or explosives; murders committed in the course of a lawful arrest; murders committed while effecting
or assisting an escape or rescue from legal custody; murders of police officers; murders of prison officers
acting in the course of their duty where the murderer was a prisoner at the time of the killing; and multiple
murders.
45