R v Hobson [1997] EWCA Crim 1317 Court of Appeal

The appellant stabbed and killed her abusive alcoholic partner in Jan 1992. At her trial the defences of self defence and provocation were rejected by the jury and she was convicted of murder. At the time of her trial Battered Women’s Syndrome was not included in the standard British classification of mental diseases. The appellant appealed contending that at the time of her trial Battered Women’s Syndrome would not have been readily considered by practising psychiatrists. She now had reports from two psychiatrists that she was suffering from Battered Women’s Syndrome at the time of the killing.

Held:

The appellant's conviction for murder was quashed and a retrial ordered.

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