Reference no: EM132576933

Criminal Law Skeleton Argument Assessment - University of Westminster, UK

INSTRUCTIONS - Please read the facts below. You have been instructed to represent Barry, the defendant, at his appeal hearing at the Court of Appeal. As such, you have to prepare a 2500 word skeleton argument to lodge with the Court of Appeal with regards to the appeal. Your footnotes and bibliography are not included in the word count.

Assessment criteria:

The ability to apply Criminal Law principles and concepts and provide arguable solutions for actual or hypothetical problems;

The ability to reach a logical conclusion based on reasoned and convincing analysis which engages with arguments on both sides;

Ability to collect information from a variety of authoritative sources, both legal and extra- legal, and ability to synthesise and assess the significance of the information collected;

Knowledge and understanding of the relevant law, application to the problem and issues, consideration of context and non-legal solutions, and correct advice;

Clear, articulate and appropriate delivery of material in a written format, in clear language, with suitable application of the relevant conventions on writing skeleton arguments, evidence of the use of strategy and skill of persuasion;

Demonstrating that statements, arguments and conclusions flow coherently and logically within the skeleton argument as a whole, with critical and creative reflection on the material used and the conclusions reached.

Assessment Case -

Minesh, who was 82, and his wife, Maureen, were asleep in their house in the early hours of Saturday morning. At around 2am, Barry, who was homeless, was walking past Minesh's house when he heard voices in his head telling him that the people who lived in Minesh's house were in trouble and he needed to go into the house and save them from aliens. Barry often heard voices in his head which had started when he was in a car accident and he had fractured his skull. This had left him with a personality disorder. Barry went up to the front door of Minesh's house and peered in through the letter box. He could see the house keys on a table near the front door and saw a stick outside the house that he thought could reach the keys and hook them back through the letter box. He managed to do this and let himself into the house with the keys.

Barry had a good look around the house and when he went into the kitchen he saw a birthday cake on the table. He was hungry so he ate the cake. He was sure the people who owned the house would not mind if he had some because he was homeless and hungry. As he went to move out of the kitchen, he accidentally knocked over a vase and it made a loud crash. He decided to go and hide in the utility room in case he had woken anyone up. In the meantime, Minesh had heard the loud crash and decided to go downstairs to investigate. He picked up a knife he kept next to the bed in case anyone broke in and went down the stairs. He looked around the living room and when he went into the kitchen he saw that the cake had been eaten. He knew neither he nor Maureen had done it as Maureen had made the cake for a birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

Barry saw Minesh go into the kitchen and the voices in his head told him that Minesh was going to be attacked by the aliens that were hiding in the house so he ran towards Minesh to save him. Minesh saw Barry running towards him and put out the knife to stop him. Barry then thought Minesh must be one of the aliens so he picked up a rolling pin he saw on the kitchen counter and hit Minesh in the side of the head with it. Minesh fell to the ground hitting his head on the stone floor and he died immediately.

Barry was tried for murder and burglary. He had wanted to run a defence of insanity but the trial judge, Mrs Justice Simpson, had ruled that there was no legal basis for this defence and he was not allowed to argue it. He had argued self-defence instead and during her summing up of the case, Mrs Justice Simpson had told the jury that it was clear that Barry had used unreasonable force. When summing up on the theft of the cake, Mrs Justice Simpson had failed to mention section 2 of the Theft Act 1968 or the case of Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd. Barry was convicted of murder and burglary at Springfield Crown Court and he wishes to appeal against both convictions and he would like you to be his lawyer on the appeal. He wishes to appeal on the basis that the following grounds of appeal have made the convictions unsafe and they should be overturned:

(1) He should have been allowed to argue the insanity defence.

(2) The judge's direction on reasonable force was wrong.

(3) The judge's failure to mention section 2 and Ivey was wrong.

(4) He did not have the mens rea for murder.

(5) He should have been charged with unlawful act manslaughter instead of murder.

You are to write a 2500 word skeleton argument for the Court of Appeal focusing on:

- A summary of the facts;

- A summary of each of the grounds of appeal;

- A detailed analysis of the arguments for each of those grounds, based on the law that supports your arguments and also the law and arguments your opponent may raise;

- A conclusion of what the outcome ought to be;

- A bibliography citing all sources used divided into the different sources.

All sources are to be cited using the OSCOLA referencing guide.