Moses, Barrington

On 6 March 1997 at Bristol Crown Court Barrington Moses was convicted of murdering Clare Hergest by drowning her in a bath and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mr Moses accepted that he had killed his former partner but maintained a defence of diminished responsibility.

Mr Moses sought leave to appeal out of time. His application was refused by a Single Judge in February 1998. A renewed application was refused by the Full Court in June 1998.

Mr Moses applied twice to the CCRC but was unsuccessful. In May 2003 he made a third application.

The defence case at trial had been that Mr Moses was suffering from psychiatric vulnerabilities which substantially diminished his responsibility for the killing.

However, on the face of the evidence the trial judge was of the view that there was sufficient evidence to raise the possibility of provocation.

Therefore, the judge, in summing up the issues for the jury, directed them to consider whether Mr Moses might have been provoked to lose his self-control.

The trial took place before the House of Lords had ruled in the case of Morgan Smith that where provocation was raised as a defence to murder, the jury should be directed to consider whether there were any “personal characteristics” affecting the susceptibility of the defendant to react to provocative words or conduct.

As this did not happen, the CCRC concluded that there had been a misdirection.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2005.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in June 2006.