Juror so distraught at evidence seeks support

Richard Barraclough KC, leading Max Reeves, recently represented JB who murdered his mother by stabbing her in the neck.  Four psychiatrists agreed that his responsibility was diminished. A plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility would have been acceptable.  However,  the defendant did not accept that he had killed her, so there had to be a trial for murder.  He was acquitted of murder by direction of the Judge and convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. The case threw up a range of difficult issues which Richard Barraclough KC has analysed in a paper entitled  A case of murder by a severely mentally disordered young person; systemic failures; the problems caused where a defendant who suffers diminished responsibility does not accept that he killed the victim and what happens when a juror who is so distraught at the evidence seeks support.

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