Hayes, Dennis

Dennis Hayes was convicted in November 1983 of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in March 1998.

Mr Hayes and an associate had been confronted by the occupant of a premises they were burgling.

Mr Hayes had bound the victim and forced a handkerchief into his mouth to silence him, resulting in the victim’s dentures being forced into his throat which led to death.

At trial, the jury had been correctly directed on the understanding of the law as it then was that they could convict of murder if they were satisfied that Mr Hayes foresaw death or serious injury as the probable result of his actions.

However, this test was subsequently altered in a different court case in which it was ruled that a jury should be directed to convict of murder only if sure that “death or serious bodily harm was a virtual certainty” as a result of the defendant’s actions and that the defendant appreciated that such was the case.

The CCRC concluded that the jury might have taken a different view as to whether the offence of murder (as opposed to manslaughter) had been made out if they had been directed to apply the “virtual certainty” test.

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2000.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in August 2002.