DPP v Morgan

DPP v. Morgan [1975]
Court	Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Citation(s)	[1975] 2 All ER 411; (1975) 61 Cr App R 136
Keywords
Mistaken belief

DPP v Morgan was a court case in the United Kingdom. It is frequently cited in matters of mistaken belief and mens rea of rape.

Case history

Morgan invited three friends to house, and invited them to have intercourse with his wife. He told these friends that his wife was "kinky", and would protest, but that she did not really mean it. The four men forcibly overcame the wife's resistance and each one had intercourse without her consent.

The friends were charged with rape, and Morgan was charged with aiding and abetting the others to commit rape. He not charged with rape because of spousal privilege. ^[1]

Trial and House of Lords

The trial judge directed the jury that the defendants would not be guilty of rape if they honestly believed that the woman was consenting and that belief in consent was reasonably held. The defendants appealed against the conviction.

The House of Lords found honest, mistaken belief in the victim's consent need not be reasonable to rebut a charge of rape.^[2]

This has been applied to other cases. A defendant's honest mistake need not be a reasonable mistake when determining their guilt.

References

1. ^ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". Sexual Offences. ANU College of Law. http://law.anu.edu.au/criminet/trape.html. Retrieved 2 November 2011. 
2. ^ Power, Helen. "Sexual offences, strict liability and mistaken belief: B v DPP in the House of Lords". Web Journal of Current Legal Issues. http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2000/issue2/power2.html. Retrieved 2 November 2011.