Murder and Manslaughter - Salhan & Company

Criminal Defence Services Murder and Manslaughter

Murder

A person convicted of murder will automatically receive a mandatory life sentence. In the most serious cases, this can mean they will never be released.

We have over 30 years’ experience of defending clients charged with murder throughout England and Wales. We regularly act for clients charged with murder often in high profile cases attracting extensive national media coverage.

There are many types of murder including the following:

Hate crimes – where the killing is racially or religiously aggravated, aggravated by sexual orientation or hostility related to disability or transgender identity
Joint enterprise (or group) killings – where all of those present are charged with murder, whether or not they inflicted the fatal injury
So-called ‘crimes of passion’ – which are carried out by a member of the victim’s family
So-called ‘honour killings’
Unpremeditated murder – resulting from an intention to cause grievous bodily harm
Child murders
Random attack killings
Police and prison officer killings
Prison killings involving feuds between serving prisoners
Serial killings

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Regardless of the circumstances, if you are under investigation for murder or have been charged with murder, Salhan & Company will work tirelessly to painstakingly analyse the evidence and to explore the options available so you can achieve the best possible outcome.

Manslaughter

We regularly represent clients facing manslaughter charges. In many cases, it is alleged that the defendant killed unlawfully due to diminished responsibility or the defendant did not intend to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.

Diminished responsibility applies to cases, where at the time of the offence, the defendant was experiencing a psychiatric or psychotic episode so that reduced their mental capacity. These cases require expert psychiatric evidence to challenge the prosecution’s evidence.

Other cases of manslaughter are based on evidence of the defendant’s intention at the time that the fatal injury was inflicted. Although it is less common for someone to be charged from the outset with manslaughter, it can happen where there is evidence that the person responsible for the death, did not intend to kill the person or to cause them very serious injury. It is more often the case that the prosecution will reduce a murder charge to manslaughter after considering the evidence produced by the defence.

As with murder, the circumstances of manslaughter cases vary greatly. Each case will need thorough analysis and an in-depth knowledge of relevant law and procedure to achieve the best possible outcome for the defendant.

A selection of our murder and manslaughter cases

R v T

Dismemberment of body and scattering of body parts throughout the Lake District. The case was followed by the BBC and later formed the basis of a BBC documentary.

R v G

Murder carried out by mummification, in which the bindings were found to be the cause of death

R v G

One of only a handful of trials in British criminal history where a person was tried for murder without the body being found

R v W

The gangland killing of a rival gang member, the precursor to the New Year’s Eve shooting of innocent girls in Aston, Birmingham.

R v A

A gangland execution, in which the victim was shot with a sawn-off shotgun while in the driver’s seat of his car. The police alleged that the defendant left a bloody fingerprint on leaving the car. The world’s leading blood fingerprint expert, who had given evidence in the trial of OJ Simpson in America, was asked to fly in from America to carry out a destructive test to prove there was no blood in the fingerprint. As a result, the prosecution case collapsed.

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