Manslaughter; Causation: Supply of Drugs: R v Kennedy [2007] UKHL 38

The appellant was convicted of manslaughter and of supplying a Class A
drug (heroin) to another contrary to s. 4(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act
1971. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on the first count
and three years’ imprisonment on the second count, to run concurrently. The convictions arose out of the death of the victim, B, who died
as a result of ‘inhalation of gastric contents while acutely intoxicated by
opiates and alcohol’ (at [3]). On 10 September 1996, the appellant
visited the room occupied by the victim and his friend, C, who had been
drinking together. According to the evidence of C, B told the appellant
that he wanted ‘a bit to make him sleep’. The appellant had told the
victim to take care that he did not go to sleep permanently. The appellant
prepared a syringe of heroin and gave it to the victim. The victim
injected himself and returned the empty syringe to the appellant, who
then left the room. The victim then appeared to stop breathing and was
pronounced dead when he was taken to hospital.