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Law Cases
Criminal Law Cases
Self-Defence Cases

R v O’Grady [1987] 3 WLR 321

Country:
United Kingdom
By Oxbridge Law Team
Lord Lane

  • Defendant killed Victim while intoxicated, genuinely, though mistakenly, believing that Victim was trying to kill him.

  • He was convicted of manslaughter (murder is a specific intent crime and therefore not possible to commit while intoxicated).

  • CA rejected appeal since, although ordinarily self-defence judges the case based on the facts as Defendant believed them to be, this was not so where Defendant’s mistake was the result of voluntary intoxication.

Lord Lane

  • Said it was in the public safety interest that drunken mistake should not lead to acquittal because this ignores prior fault, which is clearly different to a case where a paranoid or mentally ill person has an irrational view of the circumstances. 

 

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