R v Clinton and others

SEXUAL INFIDELITY AND LOSS OF SELF-CONTROL: CONTEXT OR CAMOUFLAGE? R v Clinton and others involved three appeals from trial on various matters concerning the “loss of control” partial defence to murder created by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 („the Act‟).1 This case commentary is concerned with the appeal of Jon Jacques Clinton, as it addressed the ambit of the Act‟s controversial exclusion of sexual infidelity from the grounds upon which a defendant can base her loss of self-control.2 The Court of Appeal‟s decision (Lord Chief Justice, Henriques J, Gloster J) is not uncontroversial itself, since it has significantly reduced the potential ambit of this exclusion.