R v Stewart and Schofield [1995] 1 Cr App R 441

In an attempted robbery, Schofield (S) kept watch, while Stewart (S) and Lambert, both armed, went into the shop. Lambert beat the shopkeeper to death.

S & S claimed not to have contemplated committing murder and that this only happened because L was a racist and the shopkeeper was black.

The Jury convicted them of manslaughter and CA upheld convictions, saying that this was open to the jury since whether or not Defendant 2s contemplated a certain type of crime was a question of fact (NOT law).

Where Defendant 2 had the mens rea for a lesser offence then he could be convicted of a lesser crime than Defendant 1 (Lambert was convicted of murder), i.e. where the act was within the scope of the JCE but was not foreseen by the accessory, the accessory had a lesser mens rea and could be convicted of a lesser crime.