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Corporate Manslaughter
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What is Corporate Manslaughter?
The offence of corporate manslaughter was established by the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act (2007). This removed the common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter for organisations to which the 2007 Act applies. These organisations affected are corporations (limited companies), partnerships, government departments and Crown bodies.
The Act addressed the perceived loophole in liability for large corporations where the common law doctrine of identification had proved an insurmountable hurdle. In other words, before the Act the prosecution could find it impossible to prove the act/omission causing death was in breach of a duty of care owed by an individual who embodied the corporation.
To show how important the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act (2007) is, previous application of common law identification pre-act resulted in successful prosecutions of the company involved for manslaughter. This includes public disasters such as the Herald of Free Enterprise, Piper Alpha, the Marchioness and the Hatfield rail crash.

Barristers
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KCs
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Joint Head of Chambers
Sam Green KC
Call: 1998
Silk: 2015
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Associate Tenant
Nigel Sangster KC
Call: 1976
Silk: 1998
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Richard Barraclough KC
Call: 1980
Silk: 2003
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Simon Myerson KC
Call: 1986
Silk: 2003
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Bryan Cox KC
Call: 1979
Silk: 2005
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Associate Tenant
Jane Bewsey KC
Call: 1986
Silk: 2010
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Simon Bickler KC
Call: 1988
Silk: 2011
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Associate Tenant
John Harrison KC
Call: 1994
Silk: 2016
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Jonathan Sandiford KC
Call: 1992
Silk: 2020
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Associate Tenant
Cameron Brown KC
Call: 1998
Silk: 2020
There are no KCs suiting filter condition
Members
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Joint Head of Chambers
Denise Breen-Lawton
Call: 2000
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Jeremy Barnett
Call: 1980
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Philip Standfast
Call: 1980
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Nikki Saxton
Call: 1992
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Robert Smith
Call: 1995
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Associate Tenant
David Hughes
Call: 1997
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Derek Duffy
Call: 1997
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Nicholas Worsley
Call: 1998
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Alasdair Campbell
Call: 1999
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Andrew Stranex
Call: 2000
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Jane Brady
Call: 2001
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James Bourne-Arton
Call: 2001
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Danielle Graham
Call: 2003
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Hal Watson
Call: 2003
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James Lake
Call: 2005
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Andrew Nixon
Call: 2006
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Helen Chapman
Call: 2006
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Voldi Welch
Call: 2008
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Associate Tenant
Hannah Hinton
Call: 2008
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Angus MacDonald
Call: 2009
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Sophie Mitchell
Call: 2010
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Hannah Lynch
Call: 2011
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Stephen Flint
Call: 2012
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George Hazel-Owram
Call: 2012
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Kristina Goodwin
Call: 2013
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Stephen Elphick
Call: 2014
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Charlie Greenwood
Call: 2015
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Frances Pencheon
Call: 2015
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Jessica Heggie
Call: 2017
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Harry Crowson
Call: 2018
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Temitayo Dasaolu
Call: 2018
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Ayman Khokhar
Call: 2018
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Emma Handley
Call: 2019
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Matthew Moore-Taylor
Call: 2020
There are no Members suiting filter condition
Corporate Manslaughter Process
The test for liability under the 2007 Act centres upon: how and corporates’ activities were managed, how such management was the cause of death, and how such management was a substantial element in the gross breach of a common law duty of care. Whether or not a breach of duty is gross may be assisted by reference to the factors set out within Section 8 of the 2007 Act, which include failure to comply with health and safety legislation, and the circular test for ‘grossness’ familiar to practitioners from the case of R v Adomako.
As with offences involving breaches of health and safety legislation, new sentencing guidelines have changed the landscape of potential liability. While a corporation cannot be sent to prison, the financial penalties are substantial and intended to have real economic impact on any defendant.
The Act also introduces two additional orders on conviction: a publicity order – to force an organisation to publicise on terms involvement in proceedings – and a remedial order. Failure to comply with these additional orders amounts to a further criminal offence, punishable by way of a fine.
The effect of the sentencing guidelines is to demand early legal advice to any client. The financial consequences of poorly thought-through or inexperienced advice will be significant for all organisations.
Prosecution of an organisation for corporate manslaughter does not preclude charges of gross negligence manslaughter against individual defendants, whether from within the organisation or outside. It is also common for health and safety offences to be charged alongside the manslaughter offence.
Corporate Manslaughter Cases with St Pauls Chambers
Our team of barristers are highly experienced in advising and advocating for both prosecution and defence in corporate manslaughter cases. Members of our chambers have appeared in the most high profile cases with involvement pre-charge during the period of an investigation, presenting cases in the Magistrates Court, through to the Crown Court and associated proceedings in the High Court and Court of Appeal.