A solicitor's admission at a sentencing hearing as to the accused's specific intent (intent to kill versus intent to cause grievous bodily harm) must be based on clear instructions from the client, not the solicitor's own judgment or inference. Where such an admission is made without clear instructions and is material to sentence, it constitutes a miscarriage of justice. In cases of manslaughter by excessive self-defence, the distinction between intent to kill and intent to cause grievous bodily harm is generally material to sentence.
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