Judge Rhys Davies And The Law Of Provocation

EDM number 654 in 1993-94, proposed by Harry Cohen on 22/02/1994.

That this House notes the reported comment of Judge Rhys Davies QC, the Manchester Recorder, to Mr Roy Greech, who had killed his wife in a frenzy of violence during which he struck her about the head with a vase and picture-frame and stabbed her 23 times, leaving the knife impaled in her throat, that 'you have not only been a man of good character but you are a good man also'; notes that the judge sentenced Mr Greech to a mere two-year prison term suspended for two years; compares this to the harsh sentences, including the mandatory life sentences for some such as Sara Thornton, imposed upon women who kill their violent partner out of desperation and fear after having suffered sustained domestic violence; and calls for reform of the law of provocation so that it applies more fairly and that such women can have their circumstances recognised with perhaps more justification than Mr Greech.

This motion has been signed by a total of 34 MPs.