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R v Tandy [1989] 1 WLR 350

Country:
United Kingdom
By Oxbridge Law Team
CA

  • A woman who was an alcoholic drank a huge amount then strangled her 11 year old daughter.

  • The judge directed the jury that if she had chosen to drink, as opposed to this being an inescapable compulsion, then diminished responsibility was not open to her.

  • There was some evidence that she was able to exercise a choice, e.g. she stopped drinking before her supply of vodka was exhausted and the jury convicted her of murder.

CA

  • She was able to exercise a choice and was therefore not suffering abnormality of the mind at time of strangulation (she had chosen to drink a stronger drink than usual + she had stopped drinking before finishing the bottle of vodka. The medical evidence at the trial did not suggest craving for alcohol.

  • Appeal dismissed. 

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