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94-597: The Shire Hall is a public building in Stafford , England, completed in 1798 to a design by John Harvey. Formerly a courthouse , it housed an art gallery which closed to the public in July 2017. The court rooms and cells are preserved. The building, its interiors, and the associated street furniture were grade II* listed on 17 December 1971, when it was described as "One of the finest public buildings in Stafford". The current building

188-483: A business in 1767 that became the largest shoe company in Stafford, selling worldwide. He had several government contracts through the town's Member of Parliament (MP), the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan . The shoe industry gradually died out in the late 20th century, with Lotus Shoes the last manufacturer. Its factory in Sandon Road was demolished in 2001 and replaced by housing. A locomotive firm, WG Bagnall ,

282-406: A crime (namely the person has been grossly negligent) and that person causes the victim to die, they may be liable for gross negligence manslaughter. The defendants in such cases are often people carrying out jobs that require special skills or care, such as doctors, teachers, police or prison officers, or electricians, who fail to meet the standard which could be expected from a reasonable person of

376-605: A criminal court until the Stafford Combined Court Centre in Victoria Square opened in 1991. Staffordshire County Council decided to renovate and adapt it, completing the work in 1993 with some funding by English Heritage . The Great Hall became an art gallery, featuring visiting exhibitions and temporary displays of material from the Staffordshire County Museum collection, and occasionally part of

470-488: A defensive burh , it became the county town of Staffordshire soon after. Stafford became an important market town in the Middle Ages, and later grew into an important industrial town due to the proliferation of shoemaking, engineering and electrical industries. Prehistoric finds suggest scattered settlements in the area, whilst 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of the town lies an Iron Age hill fort at Berry Ring . There

564-428: A father finding someone buggering his son. There were two limbs to the defence, first the defendant had to have actually been provoked, and second the provocation had to be such as would have made the reasonable man act as the defendant did. The Homicide Act 1957 removed all limits on what could amount to provocation and allowed it to include provocation from someone other than the victim, and aimed at someone other than

658-476: A fixed studio broadcasting from Stafford, to Stafford. Like most of the British Isles , Stafford has a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station is at Penkridge , about 5 miles to the south. Stafford has a history of shoemaking as far back as 1476, when it was a cottage industry, but a manufacturing process was introduced in the 1700s. William Horton founded

752-401: A general disturbance amounting to an affray, all those who participated could be convicted of manslaughter which would be against public policy. Deaths in a general disturbance are too remote to be caused by all participants. Thus, a punch which causes a person to fall will almost inevitably satisfy the test of dangerousness, and where the victim falls and suffers a fatal head injury the accused

846-495: A guard room (holding cell) for prisoners, and the Mayor of Stafford 's office. In 1947, one of the courtrooms was used in the filming of Blanche Fury , starring Stewart Granger . John Sparrow was Chairman of Stafford Quarter Sessions when the new building opened. His portrait, by William Owen, is in Court 2. Another judge, Thomas Noon Talfourd , collapsed and died while in the court. He

940-429: A heart condition ( ventricular fibrillation or dysrhythmia ) which was congenital but which had not been diagnosed before her death. The unlawful act was said to be the affray and the judge held that it was legitimate to aggregate the violence by the other defendants in order to decide whether the affray had subjected the deceased to the threat of at least some physical harm, and so had been a cause of death. On appeal, it

1034-549: A landmark for drivers, as it is visible from the M6 motorway . The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad's Church , dating back to the 12th century. The main part of the church is richly decorated. Carvings in its archways and on its pillars may have been made by a group of stonemasons from the Middle East who came to England during the Crusades. Much of the stonework was covered up in

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1128-454: A major industrial activity has been heavy electrical engineering , particularly power station transformers . The works have been successively owned by Siemens Brothers , English Electric , GEC and GEC Alsthom . Alstom T&D was sold in 2004 to Areva . At the end of 2009, Areva T&D was split between former owners Alstom and Schneider Electric . At the end of 2015, the works were acquired by General Electric consolidating Stafford as

1222-467: A prisoner in 1399, by troops loyal to Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV ). In 1521, Stafford was described as 'a proper and fair town', although it went into decline during the Tudor period , and in 1540, many of the houses were described as being in a state of disrepair. Elizabeth I visited Stafford in 1575, at this time the town was still in a state of decay. The Ancient High House , believed to be

1316-430: A reasonable man act as [the defendant] did?’. The reasonable man for the purposes of this test had the same sex and age as the defendant and shared such characteristics as affect the gravity of the provocation to the defendant, but characteristics irrelevant to the provocation such as unrelated mental disorders were not given to the reasonable man. Finally, the reasonable man always had reasonable powers of self-control and

1410-519: A settlement near the river crossing in 913, when Æthelflæd , Lady of Mercia founded a burh (fortified settlement) at Stafford; one of many founded across Mercia as part of her campaign against the Danes ( Vikings ). A mint was founded at Stafford by King Æthelstan (924-39) which continued in operation until the reign of Henry II (1154–89). Stafford also provided an industrial area for centralised production of Roman-style pottery (Stafford Ware), which

1504-571: A three-gabled structure with high-pitched roofs. Stafford Gatehouse Theatre is the town's main entertainment and cultural venue. Its Met Studio is a dedicated to stand-up comedy and alternative live music. There is an art gallery in the Shire Hall. Staffordshire County Showground, just outside the town, holds many national and local events. The annual Shakespeare Festival at Stafford Castle has attracted many notable people, including Frank Sidebottom and Ann Widdecombe . Victoria Park, opened in 1908,

1598-515: A transmitter based on top of the County Education building. In commercial radio, Stafford is covered by Greatest Hits Radio programming from London, Manchester or Birmingham for most of the day), broadcasting on 96.1 FM from a transmitter at Pye Green BT Tower , near Hednesford. Stafford can also receive the West Midlands regionals, like Heart West Midlands and Smooth West Midlands , and

1692-463: A tube had become disconnected from the ventilator and the patient died. Lord Mackay disapproved Seymour and held that the Bateman test of gross negligence was the appropriate test in manslaughter cases involving a breach of duty, allowing the jury to consider the accused's conduct in all the surrounding circumstances, and to convict only if the negligence was very serious. Individuals have a duty to act in

1786-521: Is vehicular homicide . An equivalent to causing death by dangerous driving in Canada under the Criminal Code is causing death by criminal negligence . Under English law, according to R v Creamer , a person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when he or she intends an unlawful act that is likely to do harm to the person, and death results which was neither foreseen nor intended. The name for this crime

1880-404: Is 'manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act' (MUDA). The term 'constructive manslaughter' is commonly and correctly used as a synonym. Although the accused did not intend to cause serious harm or foresee the risk of doing so, and although an objective observer would not necessarily have predicted that serious harm would result, the accused's responsibility for causing death is constructed from

1974-413: Is a 13-acre (53 ha) Edwardian riverside park with a play park, bowling green, bird cages and greenhouses. It has a children's play area, a sand-and-water-jet area replacing an open-air paddling pool, and a bmx/skateboard area. Stafford also has a 9-hole golf course near the town centre. Recent developments on Riverside allowed for an expansion of the town, notably with a new Odeon cinema to replace

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2068-548: Is a Grade II listed manor house (now apartments), originally built about 1810 as Forebridge Hall, known after 1880 as Green Hall. It was previously used as a girls' school and as council offices. The Shugborough Hall country estate is 4 miles (6.4 km) out of town. It once belonged to the Earls of Lichfield and is now owned by the National Trust . The 19th-century Sandon Hall is 5 miles (8.0 km) north-east of Stafford. It

2162-498: Is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire , England. It is located about 15 miles (24 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent , 15 miles (24 km) north of Wolverhampton , and 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Birmingham . The town had a population of 71,673 in 2021 , and is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Stafford , which had a population of 136,837 in 2021. Stafford has Anglo-Saxon roots, being founded in 913, when Æthelflæd , Lady of Mercia founded

2256-586: Is also evidence of Roman activity in the area, with finds around Clark and Eastgate Street. However it is thought that the Romans reclaimed the marsh for agriculture rather than settlement. Stafford means " ford " by a staithe (landing place). The original settlement was on a near island, on a gravelly lowland bounded by loop of the River Sow to the south and west (a tributary of the River Trent ). The eastern boundary

2350-521: Is at the very north of the Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire coverage area. BFBS Gurkha Radio broadcasts locally on 1278 kHz medium wave from Beacon Barracks . The town's first community licensed station, Stafford FM , launches in 2015 after a number of restricted service FM licences. The station rebranded in April 2024 to Vibe 1, and remains the only commercial radio station with

2444-459: Is capable of being an abnormality of mind even if there is no physical damage to the brain. Whether the abnormality substantially impaired the defendant's mental responsibility for the killing is a question of degree for the jury. In R v Lloyd the Court of Appeal held that the lack of control must simply be ‘more than trivial’. Premenstrual tension (PMT) has been accepted as a mitigating factor in several high-profile cases. In 1980, Sandie Smith

2538-477: Is commemorated by a bust, sculpted by John Graham Lough , in Court 1. Among those tried at the Shire Hall were the forger William Booth , who was convicted before Simon Le Blanc and hanged outside Stafford Gaol in 1812. The trial in the case of the murder of Christina Collins was held there in July 1839: Colin Dexter based his eighth Inspector Morse novel, The Wench Is Dead on the case. In 1923, George Stagg

2632-403: Is guilty of manslaughter. It is foreseeable that the victim is at risk of suffering some physical harm (albeit not serious harm) from such a punch and that is sufficient. Physical harm includes shock. The reason why the death resulting from the attempted robbery of the 60-year-old petrol station attendant was not manslaughter was that the attempted robbery was not dangerous in the relevant sense. It

2726-539: Is not an offence known to law. Provocation in English law was abolished on 4 October 2010 by section 56(1) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 , but replaced by the similar partial defence of "loss of control". At common law, acts of provocation had to be actual violence towards the defendant; words could not amount to provocation. The two exceptions to this rule were a husband discovering his wife committing adultery and

2820-553: Is reduction for guilty pleas (such as by a plea bargain ); the fifth is dangerousness. If the actions and/or psychological reports are adverse they may well meet the criteria in Chapter 5 of Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 by which it would be appropriate to impose a life sentence (section 224A or section 225) or an extended sentence (section 226A). In R v Creamer , the court said obiter that attempted manslaughter

2914-558: Is set in 400 acres (1.6 km ) of parkland, as the seat of the Earl of Harrowby . Weston Hall stands 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Stafford, in the Trent valley with a large park and was once part of the Chartley estate. It is thought that the main part of the hall was built about 1550 as a small dower house, but the architectural evidence suggests it is Jacobean . Weston Hall was extended in 1660 into

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3008-440: Is the third of similar function on the site. The county court met in Stafford as early as 1176. A shire hall , home to the county court and other civic functions, stood on the north side of what is now Market Square in the 1280s. In the 1580s, the decision was made to rebuild the shire hall, on a new site, but this was not completed until 1607, probably due to difficulties raising the money needed. By 1793, it had been decided, due to

3102-478: The Crown Prosecution Service sentencing manual: The Sentencing Council set out a guideline for manslaughter (substituted for charge/finding of murder) by reason of an accepted defence of loss of control. It came in to effect on 1 November 2018. A nine-stage formula is to be used, for ideal legal compliance. Stage 1, culpability, will set the sentencing "starting point". Notably the fourth stage

3196-463: The High Court and Court 2, the magistrates' court . The latter has many original fittings, but the former was enlarged by the county surveyor , Charles Trubshaw, and refitted by local joiner Thomas Bull, in 1854. The 1854 remodelling extended the building over a market for dairy produce, The Butter Market. As a result, a new market hall was built nearby, across the market square. The basement included

3290-547: The Popish Plot , in which Titus Oates whipped up anti-Catholic feeling with claims of a plot to have the king killed. Lord Stafford was among those accused; he was unfortunate to be the first to be tried and was beheaded in 1680. The charge was false and on 4 June 1685, the bill of attainder against him was reversed. The town was represented in Parliament from 1780 by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan . During that period,

3384-687: The Stafford Rural District , the Stone Rural District and the Stone Urban District . The Elizabethan Ancient High House in the town centre is the largest timber-framed town house in England. It is now a museum with temporary exhibitions. Stafford Castle was built by the Normans on the nearby hilltop to the west in about 1090, replacing the post-Conquest fort in the town. It

3478-502: The Staffordshire Hoard . The former courtyard was glazed over and is now part of a suite of council offices, including the former Grand Jury Room which retains part of its 18th-century dado . The gallery closed in July 2017. The building continues to be used for one-off events and various options for future use have been submitted to the county council for consideration. Stafford Stafford ( / ˈ s t æ f ər d / )

3572-442: The locomotive manufacturer W. G. Bagnall opened a large works in the town in 1875. In the early 1900s electrical engineering became a major activity, when Siemens Brothers , opened a large factory in the town, producing such items as electrical motors, generators and transformers . The electrical industry has been under the ownership of several companies since, including English Electric and GEC . The Friars' Walk drill hall

3666-400: The (post) deceased with drugs had been uncertain until the case of R v Kennedy . The defendant supplied heroin to a drug user that asked for something to help them sleep. An hour after administering the drug the victim died. Kennedy was found guilty of manslaughter and appealed on the grounds that there must be an unlawful act which caused the victim's death. In this case the defendant set up

3760-420: The 1280s there were various trades such as tanning , glove making and shoe making being practised in the town. A guild of shoemakers was founded in 1476. Medieval Stafford was served by two churches; St Chad's , which is the oldest building in Stafford, dating from the mid- 12th century , and St Mary's which dates from the early- 13th century . King Richard II was paraded through the town's streets as

3854-454: The 17th and 18th centuries and the church took on a neo-classical style. In the early 19th-century restoration , work was carried out on the church and the Norman decoration rediscovered. The church hosts "Timewalk", a computer-generated display that relates the journey of history and mystery within the walls of the church. St Mary's, the collegiate church formerly linked to St Bertelin's chapel,

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3948-480: The Act it is for the defendant to prove he suffered from such a condition on the balance of probabilities. An abnormality of mind has been defined by Lord Parker CJ "as state of mind so different from that of ordinary human beings that the reasonable man would term it abnormal". In deciding whether this state of mind exists the jury should consider medical evidence, but also all other evidence including acts and statements of

4042-627: The Centre of Excellence for HVDC, AC Substations and Converter Transformers. Each transformer weighs several hundred tons and a road train is used for transport. In the 1968 Hixon rail crash , one such road train was struck by an express train on a level crossing . Manslaughter in English law Voluntary manslaughter occurs when the defendant kills with mens rea (an intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm ), but one of those partial defences which reduce murder to manslaughter applies (these consist of mitigating circumstances which reduce

4136-515: The Parliamentarians finally won control in 1643. A few months later an order was given for the demolition of the castle. However, Stafford's famous son Izaak Walton , author of The Compleat Angler , was a staunch Royalist. In 1658 Stafford elected John Bradshaw , who had been judge at the trial of King Charles I , to represent the town in Parliament. During the reign of Charles II , William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford became implicated in

4230-444: The accused and his demeanour. The jury does not have to accept the medical evidence if other material conflicts with and outweighs it. The Homicide Act specifies three causes one of which must cause the abnormality; they are a condition of arrested or retarded development of mind, any inherent cause or a disease or injury. Whether the abnormality is caused by one of the specified causes is a matter for medical evidence alone. Alcoholism

4324-439: The accused did not intend to cause death or serious injury but caused the death of another through recklessness or criminal negligence . For these purposes, recklessness is defined as a blatant disregard for the dangers of a particular situation. An example of this would be dropping a brick off a bridge, landing on a person's head, killing them. Assuming there is no intention to cause really serious harm, murder does not arise. But

4418-433: The accused must have had a "settled intention of dying in pursuance of the pact" to avoid the accused entering into a supposed pact with the real intention of committing murder. The Law Commission has proposed abolishing the defence with deserving cases falling within diminished responsibility, but feels it should be retained pending a review of a new partial defence of mercy killings. Involuntary manslaughter arises where

4512-578: The accused. Further the defence was not defeated by the fact that the defendant induced the provocation. Section 56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 states that the common law defence of provocation is abolished and replaced by sections 54 and 55; and that section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957 is also abolished and replaced with sections 54 and 55. This was a question of fact for the jury. The loss of control had to be sudden and temporary, however it could be

4606-418: The act of dropping the brick is itself criminal, and where a criminal and dangerous act causes death, that will (generally) constitute manslaughter. This form of manslaughter is also termed "unlawful act" or "constructive" manslaughter. Under English law, where a person owes a duty of care (either by statute or by the neighbour principle ) and is negligent to such a degree that consequently the law regards it as

4700-608: The ageing one at the end of the high street. Stafford Film Theatre is based at the Gatehouse Theatre and shows independent and alternative films. There is a tenpin bowling alley at Greyfriars Place. The new Stafford Leisure Centre opened in 2008 on Lammascote Road. Night life consists of smaller bar and club venues such as Casa, the Grapes, the Picture House , neighbouring night clubs Couture and Poptastic, Hogarths, and rock gigs at

4794-454: The break-up of his relationship with his girlfriend, at about 3 pm, the defendant sent a text message to his mother saying that he did not want to live any more. He then drove his car against the flow of traffic along the hard shoulder of the A1(M) at high speed, before moving into the carriageway, still accelerating and straddling the centre line. He then crashed, head on, into an oncoming car, killing

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4888-498: The building’s poor condition caused by inadequate maintenance, that a new building was needed, and the Stafford Shire Hall Act 1794 was passed by Parliament. Designs were submitted by Samuel Wyatt , then working at nearby Shugborough Hall , and by John Nash , but the one chosen was by John Harvey - his only significant building. Harvey had worked as Wyatt's assistant or pupil, and Wyatt is believed to have been involved in

4982-434: The company, the company is not, in the present state of the common law, liable for manslaughter. Civil negligence rules are not apt to confer criminal liability; the identification principle remains the only basis in common law for corporate liability for gross negligence manslaughter (see imputation ). This was the only persuasive authority for the law of manslaughter at large, but R v DPP, ex parte Jones , which said that

5076-417: The defence of "loss of control". Under section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 there are three requirements for the defendant to raise the defence of diminished responsibility. The defendant must have suffered from an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing caused by one of the causes specified by the Act which substantially impaired the defendant's mental responsibility for the killing. Under section 2(2) of

5170-502: The defendant's culpability). The original mitigating factors were provocation and chance medley which existed at common law , but the former has been abolished by statute, the latter has been held no longer to exist and new defences have been created by statute. The Homicide Act 1957 now provides two defences which may be raised to allow the court to find the accused guilty of voluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibility and suicide pact. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 creates

5264-590: The defendant's state of mind is relevant to the jury's consideration when assessing the grossness and criminality of his conduct, evidence of his state of mind is not a pre-requisite to a conviction for manslaughter by gross negligence. The Adomako test is objective, but a defendant who is reckless as defined in Stone may well be the more readily found to be grossly negligent to a criminal degree. ... In our judgment unless an identified individual's conduct, characterisable as gross criminal negligence, can be attributed to

5358-501: The drug and supplied it but did not administer it, therefore it was an act of the victim himself that caused his own death. Kennedy was acquitted of manslaughter. Prior to this House of Lords ruling, the lower courts (in particular the Court of Appeal ) struggled to strike a balance between those suppliers considered to have administered the drug (in the subsequent cases, heroin ) to the victim themselves, and those suppliers who simply "supply"

5452-548: The drug for the victim to then voluntarily administer themselves. Infanticide is a partial defence to manslaughter under the Infanticide Act 1938 (as amended by section 57 the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to confirm the decision in R v Gore ) and reduces the manslaughter to the crime of infanticide . Manslaughter is an indictable-only offence . A person guilty of manslaughter is liable to imprisonment for life or for any shorter term. For case law on sentencing see

5546-409: The fault in committing what might have been a minor criminal act. The case of R v Goodfellow laid out a four-part requirement which if satisfied could lead to liability for MUDA. The person's action must: A number of authorities clarify the test from R v Goodfellow : In R v Dawson , a petrol station attendant with a weak heart died of heart failure when the appellant attempted a robbery of

5640-406: The final Neoclassical style design. Building began in 1795, and the hall was completed in 1798. The hall has nine ashlar bays above a rusticated ground floor. The portico has an architrave and pediment , supported by four Doric columns . Figures of Justice and Mercy , by John Rossi and his partner John Bingley, recline on the pediment. A clock was placed between them in 1799, instead of

5734-402: The first rail connection to London. The Trent Valley Railway to Rugby and then direct to London, was opened in 1847. Two more lines, both now closed then followed, from Stafford to Shrewsbury in 1849, and to Uttoxeter in 1867. Stafford became a major junction, which helped to attract other industries. In the late 19th century, Stafford's economy began to diversify into engineering, when

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5828-500: The followers of William the Conqueror , who granted Robert de Tonei (later known as Robert de Stafford) the manor of Bradley and one third of the king's rents in Stafford. The estate became the seat of the powerful Stafford family . Stafford Castle , was first built by Robert de Stafford on a nearby hilltop to the west around 1070. It was first made of wood and later rebuilt in stone around 1348. It has been rebuilt since. Stafford

5922-499: The following situations: In Attorney-General's Reference (No 2 of 1999) , a case on corporate manslaughter that arose out of the Southall rail crash , the Court of Appeal decided the defendant's subjective state of mind (i.e. whether there was conscious risk-taking) is irrelevant and, therefore, so is the question of recklessness, leaving the objective test as the only test for liability. Rose LJ said: Although there may be cases where

6016-519: The largest timber-framed town house in England, was built in 1595 by John Dorrington; it was extensively restored during 1976-86. When James I visited Stafford in 1617, he was said to be so impressed by the Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it "Little London". During the English Civil War , Stafford was initially held by the Royalists ; King Charles I visited Stafford shortly after

6110-506: The live music venue Redrum. Most of these are in walking distance of each other. There is a big student patronage, with coaches bringing them from Stoke-on-Trent , Cannock , and Wolverhampton . A new shopping centre was completed in 2017, housing major stores and a number of restaurants, The guildhall shopping centre no longer is open Stafford is covered by the Express and Star and Staffordshire Newsletter , neither of which have offices in

6204-696: The outbreak of the war in September 1642, staying for three days at the Ancient High House . The town resisted two assaults by the Parliamentarians in February 1643, but was later taken by them in May 1643, when a force led by Sir William Brereton captured the town by stealth. Stafford then became the seat of the parliamentary county committee. Stafford Castle was defended by a garrison led by Lady Isabel Stafford, but

6298-427: The passenger and injuring many others in the resulting consequential crashes. A sentence of 10 years' detention in a young offender institution was upheld because although the intentional focus might have been only on suicide, the defendant must have known from the way he was driving that he would kill or injure at least one other person (thus enforcing an objective standard on the defendant). The law on those who supply

6392-471: The planned figure of Britannia from Harvery's original design. Also abandoned was Wyatt's proposal to include judges' living accommodation. Immediately behind the facade is the Great Hall, 72 by 32 by 39 feet (22 m × 10 m × 12 m), with three galleries. Beyond this are the two courtrooms: Court 1 (now open to the public, with displays of museum artefacts related to crime and policing) for

6486-583: The pre-statutory objective test of "dangerousness", i.e. whether the driving fell far below the standard of the competent and careful driver and was obviously dangerous in the opinion of such a driver. The Committee also recommended that manslaughter should be an optional charge for the more serious driving cases. There is the possibility of charging an aggravated taking without consent or, since 2008, causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving , for less seriously dangerous driving where death results. An equivalent, in many American states, to motor manslaughter

6580-427: The previous defence of provocation . Section 4(1) of the Homicide Act 1957 introduced the defence of suicide pact. Parliament's intention was to show some compassion for those who had been involved in a suicide pact but failed to die. Section 4(3) defines a suicide pact as "a common agreement between two or more persons having for its object the death of all of them, whether or not each is to take his own life". Further

6674-414: The result of slow burn; the final straw needed not be very bad as long as it led to an actual sudden and temporary loss of control. A delay between the act of provocation and the killing did not always defeat the defence, but often would. Under section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957 the second question to be answered by the jury in order for the defence to succeed was ‘whether the provocation was enough to make

6768-465: The same profession. In R v Bateman the Court of Criminal Appeal held that gross negligence manslaughter involved the following elements: The House of Lords in Seymour sought to identify the mens rea for "motor manslaughter" (negligently causing death when driving a motor vehicle). Reference was made to R v Caldwell and R v Lawrence which held that a person was reckless if: The conclusion

6862-493: The station. In judging whether this act was sufficiently dangerous , the Court of Appeal applied a test based on the "sober and reasonable" bystander who could be assumed to know that the use of a replica gun was likely to terrify people and so be a danger to those with a weak heart. Note the aggravated form of criminal damage with intent to endanger life under section 1(2) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 which could provide

6956-556: The test of negligent manslaughter is objective, confirmed Attorney General's Reference (No 2 of 1999) as a correct general statement of law. Because of a reluctance by juries to convict when the charge was manslaughter, a statutory offence of " causing death by dangerous driving " was introduced. Following the Road Traffic Law Review Committee (1988), the Road Traffic Act 1991 abandoned recklessness in favour of

7050-462: The time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Its borough status was confirmed in 1206, when King John issued a charter. Stafford was reconstituted as a municipal borough in 1835. The borough boundaries were expanded in 1876, 1917 and 1934. The modern Borough of Stafford covers a much larger area then the town itself, and was created in 1974, when the old municipal borough of Stafford was merged with

7144-400: The town's mechanised shoe industry was founded, the best-known factory owner being William Horton. The shoemaking industry flourished over the next century, and became Stafford's staple trade, at its height in the 1880s, there were 39 manufacturers in the town. The industry went into steady decline from thereon, and by 1958 there was just one manufacturer, Lotus remaining. The last shoe factory

7238-474: The town. Stafford is covered by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central , both broadcasting from Birmingham to the wider West Midlands region. Stafford is mainly served by the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station , just north of Birmingham, but some residents get a better picture from The Wrekin transmitting station , near Telford . In terms of BBC Local Radio, Stafford is covered by BBC Radio Stoke , with

7332-444: The unlawful act if the damage actually causes death. But R v Carey, C and F limits the scope of unlawful act manslaughter. An argument became violent and the first defendant punched and kicked one victim. The second defendant assaulted the deceased by pulling her hair back and punching her in the face. The third defendant assaulted another. The deceased was one of the first to run away, after which she felt faint, and later died of

7426-402: The victim's heart condition, which distinguishes this case from Dawson , and from R v Watson in which the victim's approximate age (he was 87 years old) and frail state would have been obvious to a reasonable person. A sober and reasonable person would not have foreseen that an apparently healthy person of 15 years would suffer shock as a result of it. The court held that the deceased's death

7520-459: Was a walled town by 1086. The town walls were probably wooden originally, but later rebuilt in stone. There were four gates on the roads into the town from the north, south, east and west. By around 1670 the walls were in ruin, and their remnants were gradually demolished. Stafford became an important market town during the Middle Ages , which had a particular focus of trading cloth and wool. By

7614-542: Was built in 1798 as a court house and office of the Mayor and Clerk of Stafford. The Shire Hall used to be the town's court house, and is a Grade II listed building . In recent times, the building was used as an art gallery and library, before a new facility was built within the new council buildings, The Market Square has recently gone under a £2 million redevelopment which was completed in November 2023. Green Hall on Lichfield Road

7708-471: Was completed in 1913, just in time for the First World War . The M6 motorway was opened to the west of Stafford in 1962. In 2013 Stafford celebrated its 1,100th anniversary year with a number of history-based exhibitions, while local historian Nick Thomas and writer Roger Butters were set to produce the two-volume A Compleat [ sic ] History of Stafford . Stafford was already an ancient borough by

7802-422: Was convicted of manslaughter for stabbing a barmaid. Dr. Katharina Dalton who examined Smith before the trial diagnosed her with severe PMS . This diagnosis was accepted as a cause of diminished responsibility. Smith was sentenced to three years probation despite previous convictions for violent behaviour. Loss of control is a partial defence to murder introduced by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 . It replaced

7896-548: Was convicted of the murder by shooting of Aston Villa footballer Tommy Ball . His death sentence was commuted, and he died in 1966 in a mental hospital in Birmingham. In 1970, Raymond Leslie Morris was convicted of the Cannock Chase murders in the Shire Hall and, in 1979, the spree killer, Barry Williams , was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility there. The Shire Hall continued to be used as

7990-644: Was demolished in 1998. In 1814, Stafford was linked to the canal network by the River Sow Navigation ; a short navigation which linked Stafford to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal . The navigation fell into disuse in the 1930s. The railways arrived in Stafford in 1837 when the Grand Junction Railway was opened, linking the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham , which provided

8084-424: Was first made of wood, and later rebuilt of stone. It has been rebuilt twice since, and the ruins of the 19th-century Gothic revival castle crowning the earthworks incorporate much of the original stonework. The castle has a visitor centre with audio-visual displays and hands-on items. There is also a recreated medieval herb garden. Shakespeare productions take place in the castle grounds each summer. The castle forms

8178-415: Was formed by Sandyford brook, with a marshy area to the north. Despite many drains being constructed in the 19th century, the area is still prone to flooding. Stafford has been identified as the island of Bethney, or Bethnei where St Bertelin is said to have founded a hermitage about AD 700, before moving to a more remote area. Others then settled in the area and named it Stafford. There may have been

8272-460: Was judged to be inappropriate to hold the defendants liable for the death. There must be an unlawful act that was dangerous in the sense that sober and reasonable persons would recognise that the act was such as to subject Y to the risk of physical harm. In turn, that act must cause the death. When deciding whether an act is dangerous, knowledge of the victim's characteristics may be relevant. In this case, no reasonable person would have been aware of

8366-517: Was not caused by injuries that were a foreseeable result of the affray. The assault by the second defendant was an unlawful act causing death. The other two defendants could have been convicted by virtue of common purpose given that the death was an accidental departure from the general plan of the affray. But the Crown did not elect to present the case in this way, but pleaded the case as a public order group activity. The result would be that if anyone died in

8460-400: Was not foreseeable that an apparently healthy 60-year-old man would suffer shock and a heart attack as a result of such an attempted robbery. But the jury properly found that it was foreseeable that an obviously frail and very old man was at risk of suffering shock leading to a heart attack as a result of a burglary committed at his home late at night. In R v Charles James Brown , following

8554-506: Was rebuilt in the early 13th century on a cruciform plan, with an aisled nave and chancel typical of the period. It has an impressive octagonal tower, once topped by a tall steeple, which can be picked out in Gough's plan shown above. The church was effectively two churches in one, divided by a screen, with the parish using the nave and the collegiate canons the chancel. St Mary's was restored in 1842 by Giles Gilbert Scott . The Shire Hall

8648-729: Was set up in 1875 to manufacture steam engines for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway . Between 1875 and 1962, the Castle Engine Works in Castle Town produced 1,869 locomotives, including steam, diesel and electric. It was taken over in 1961 by English Electric , which also bought the Stafford-based engine manufacturer WH Dorman & Company . This had merged with Bagnall's by then. Since 1901,

8742-683: Was supplied to a chain of West Midlands burhs . The county of Staffordshire was formed at about this time, with Stafford as its county town . Stafford lay within the Pirehill hundred . In 1069, a rebellion by Eadric the Wild against the Norman conquest culminated in the Battle of Stafford. Two years later another rebellion, led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia , ended in Edwin's assassination and distribution of his lands among

8836-486: Was that for motor manslaughter (and, by implication, for all cases of gross negligence), it was more appropriate to adopt this definition of recklessness. Consequently, if the defendant created an obvious and serious risk of causing physical injury to someone, there could be liability whether there was simple inadvertence or conscious risk-taking. It was no longer a defence to argue that the negligence had not been gross. In R v Adomako an anaesthetist failed to notice that

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