The main difference between murder and manslaughter is that a person must intend to kill or cause GBH in order to be guilty of murder. It may be reduced to manslaughter if the Prosecution cannot disprove that the Defendant may have been acting as a result of loss of control or diminished responsibility. In these cases, murder would be reduced to “voluntary manslaughter”.

Note: Duress is not a defence to a charge of murder or attempted murder.

What are the Sentencing Guidelines for murder?

All adults convicted of murder will get a mandatory life sentence except if the offence is so exceptionally high that early release provisions should not apply, which is known as a ‘whole life order’.

If a whole life order sentence is not handed out a judge will determine a minimum term that needs to be served before parole can be considered. There are therefore four main categories with starting points of:

• A whole life order; (eg murder of a person under 18 involving abduction, murders of 2 or more people where each murder involved a high degree of planning or were of a sadistic or sexually nature)
• 30 years (eg racially aggravated, involves firearm/explosive, sexual/sadistic or in the course of a burglary)
• 25 years (eg when taken a knife or other weapon to the scene)
• 15 years

A number of Aggravating or mitigating factors can then be taken into account when deciding the final sentence. These can include things like:

• The degree of planning
• Abuse of position
• Use of duress/threats
• Vulnerability of the victim
• Lack of premeditation
• Provocation
• Intention to cause serious harm but not to kill