“The case related to the sentencing of a man who had killed his own mother in a frenzied knife attack and it led the Court of Appeal to review the full range of possible disposals available to a sentencing judge under the Mental Health Act 1983 and to review the earlier authorities on the correct approach to the exercise of deciding which of those provisions to apply. The court also considered what level of discount should apply for a guilty plea in circumstances where defence lawyers take the view that psychiatric evidence is necessary to investigate fitness to plead, insanity or diminished responsibility or where a defendant has a significantly reduced ability to understand what is alleged against him …”
ADDED Wednesday 28th October 2020