Women who kill abusive partners in cold blood could escape murder charge in radical law shake-up

Women who kill abusive partners in cold blood could escape a murder conviction if they prove they feared more violence.

Under a major government review, they will be punished for the lesser offence of manslaughter, sparing them a mandatory life sentence.

They must establish only that they were responding to a 'slow burn' of abuse.

The change sweeps aside the existing requirement in any defence of provocation that they killed on the spur of the moment after a 'sudden' loss of control.

In cases where a husband kills, the existing 'partial defence' of provocation if a wife was having an affair is scrapped altogether.

The Ministry of Justice said this was in response to long-standing concerns that the centuries- old measure impacts differently on men and women.

In the first major changes to homicide laws in 50 years, ministers have ruled that other categories of killer, as well as domestic violence victims, should be offered new partial defences of provocation.

They include those 'seriously wronged' by an insult.

Beneficiaries of this change may include those who strike out after long and bitter disputes with neighbours, or victims of a serious crime who are taunted at a later date by the attacker.

Instead of receiving a mandatory life sentence for murder, they too could escape with a manslaughter conviction.

Women's groups had long campaigned for changes to the law to protect victims of domestic violence who hit back in desperation.

But the proposed new partial defence for killers who feel 'seriously wronged' by 'words and conduct' took experts completely by surprise.

Robert Whelan of the Civitas think-tank accused Ministers of introducing 'gang law' into the legal system.

He said: 'To take someone's life because they say something that offends you is the law of gang culture.

'Are we really going to introduce into our criminal justice system that it is a defence to say "I was insulted"?'

He also voiced concern about the plan to give special protection to certain groups.

Mr Whelan said: 'By creating all these special categories, the Government are making some people more equal than others before the law.

'It seems some lives are worth more than others.'

Lyn Costello of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression described the changes as 'utter madness'.

She warned: 'We need clear laws, not more grey areas. This is not the sort of message to send out.

'You will have some very clever lawyers who will twist this around to suit their clients.

'Unless there are really exceptional circumstances, such as self defence or protecting yourself or family, then there is no excuse for killing someone and it should be murder.'

Officials, however, denied they were creating any loopholes.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Justice Minister Maria Eagle gave an example of where the new defence could apply as a 'serious neighbour dispute' in which the provocation of one person had reached a 'very high level'.

She also cited a person who had been subjected to repeated racist abuse.

Her officials stressed later that any neighbour dispute would have to go 'quite beyond what an ordinary person should be expected to deal with'. continues here

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