A definition of gross negligence manslaughter
The test to be applied to determine whether a person has committed gross negligence manslaughter was articulated by Lord Woolf LCJ in R v Adomako [1994] UKHL 6, who set out the five elements required:
- a duty of care owed by the defendant to the victim
- a breach of that duty
- a risk that the defendant’s conduct could cause death
- evidence that the breach of duty caused the victim’s death
- the defendant’s conduct fell so far below the standards of a reasonable person in that situation that they should be labelled grossly negligent and deserving of criminal punishment.