Coroners and Justice Bill

I have two brief observations to make. First, the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, has set out the background and history so well that no addition is called for, save one. In the Holley case from Jersey, the ninth Law Lord also said that the law called for comprehensive reform. In other words, he agreed with the other eight who said, "No tinkering with parts of the law of murder". The logical conclusion from the argument that he made was that the clauses, instead of being further tinkered with here, should not stand part of the Bill at all. That comes in with Amendment 163 in the group, so technically I am in order in saying now that we should not indulge in any of these further revisions or amendments but should get rid of them lock, stock and barrel. We should let the Law Commission advise, there should be a proper consultation, and there should be a Bill dealing with the law of murder. Secondly, Clause 45(6)(c) states that, ""the fact that a thing done or said constituted sexual infidelity is to be disregarded"." However, we are now in the field of looking at, ""circumstances of an extremely grave character"," and the defendant having a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged. We will lose the public’s respect if we legislate in this way. The most common thing one reads in the press in murder cases is that the wife or husband finds the other spouse in the sexual act, loses control, picks up a bread knife or whatever comes to hand and stabs and sometimes kills the other spouse. That is French-style crime passionnel. Are we now turning this into something that the English, with their stiff upper lip, will just take as an ordinary incident of marital life? That is ridiculous and out of line with the way in which people think about human passions. It is the one great terrible event that can happen in a married life and to say that it is to be disregarded makes nonsense of Clause 45 and the whole of the reform. That adds to my flame to get rid of these clauses altogether.