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Under British law, the act of murder all rests on the “actus reus” – this is the term that defines whether a killing can be classified as murder or not.

The original 17th century description by Sir Edward Coke, the eminent English barrister, sums up the act of murder as:

“Murder is when a man of sound memory and of the age of discretion, unlawfully killeth within any county of the realm any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the King’s peace, with malice aforethought, either expressed by the party or implied by law, so as the party wounded, or hurt, etc. die of the wound or hurt, etc. within a year and a day of the same”

Continue reading “What is the “actus reus” of murder?”

Infanticide is an offence that occurs when a mother kills her child, whilst not fully responsible for her actions. For infanticide to be used as a defence for murder or manslaughter, the child must have been aged under 12 months.

Continue reading “What does infanticide mean?”

The David Phillips & Partners team are slapping each other on the back after raising £1,650 for CheckEmLads a testicular cancer charity.

The team volunteered for the Challenge the Wild project, which saw twenty members of staff risk life and limb in the rural, untamed environs of the Lake District.

Continue reading “DPP Raise Money for Testicular Cancer Charity CheckEmLads”

Many people are released from prison in advance of when their sentence was due to end and, because of this, they are released ‘on license’.

If you were sentenced to more than a year in prison, there is a chance that you will be released into the community early on license. This can also mean that you are on a home detention curfew, which is also known as being ‘on tag’.

Continue reading “I have been released on license – What does this mean?”

Scrambler bike theft seems to be a crime on the rise. There has been a number of high profile police raids around the UK which have uncovered rafts of stolen dirt bikes, scramblers and other off road bikes in garages and warehouses across the country.

The problem was highlighted by a story in the Liverpool Echo that saw almost one hundred off-road bikes, quad-bikes and superbikes recovered by Merseyside Police.

Continue reading “Scrambler Bike Theft”

The law says that the driver of a vehicle that has been involved in an accident must remain at the scene of the accident, so that they can provide their name and address to the authorities. If, in the moment, you panicked and drove off, it’s absolutely essential that you heed the following advice.

If you’ve been involved in a hit and run accident, the worst thing you can do is just forget about it and hope it will go away. It won’t.

Continue reading “Hit and Run – What to do next”