Where lies or post-offence conduct are equally consistent with consciousness of guilt of murder and manslaughter, they have no probative value for distinguishing between the offences and the jury must be directed accordingly. The evidence may only be used to determine whether the accused was implicated in unlawful conduct at all (e.g., to rebut self-defence), not to determine the level of culpability. An exception exists where the post-offence conduct is out of all proportion to the level of culpability admitted, though this is described as more theoretical than real in murder/manslaughter cases.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 32 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 32 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.