Sonn Macmillan Walker secure a suspended sentence in an historic murder case
In 2004, our client was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for a stabbing which left the victim with irreversible brain damage and paralysis. The victim died in 2017 and a pathologist concluded that his death was a consequence of the stab wound. In 2019, our client was charged with murder after the CPS obtained the consent of the Attorney General.
Having been charged with murder and after much delay, the CPS accepted our client’s plea to manslaughter on the basis of provocation. ‘Provocation’ has been replaced by ‘loss of control’ as a defence to the offence of murder but was available in 2004 and so was the proper defence advanced in this case. Sonn Macmillan Walker instructed some of the country’s leading experts in pathology and geriatric psychiatry to assist our client’s case.
In passing sentencing, the Judge took into account the fact that our client had served a 10 year sentence of imprisonment, was now in his 80s and was suffering with depression and documented cognitive issues. The sentence imposed was 2 years imprisonment, which was suspended for 18 months.
Chris Stevens was the solicitor in this case and instructed Paul Mendelle QC and David Wood, both of 25 Bedford Row Chambers. Click here to read more.
