“Excessive self-defence cannot reduce murder to manslaughter in English law”
Private Clegg, a soldier at a checkpoint in Northern Ireland, fired shots at a car that failed to stop, killing a passenger. The final shot was fired after the car had passed and no longer posed a threat. Clegg claimed he acted in self-defence of himself and colleagues.
Whether the use of excessive force in self-defence should reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter, and whether different principles should apply to soldiers acting in the course of duty.
The House of Lords upheld Clegg's murder conviction. Excessive force in self-defence cannot reduce murder to manslaughter. The defence of self-defence is either available (if force was reasonable) or not available at all (if force was excessive).
This case definitively established that English law takes an 'all or nothing' approach to self-defence, rejecting the partial defence of excessive self-defence that exists in some other jurisdictions. It remains the leading authority on the limits of self-defence.
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OSCOLA Citation
R v Clegg [1995] 1 AC 482 (HL)
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