... purposely carried out an action that led to the death, in full knowledge of the likelihood of this eventuality. In general intention is different form motivation or desire. A desire never actually amounts to an intention unless the actions from this desire are carried out although expressing a desire may be considered intent. This is called direct intention. However the law surrounding intention is not as narrow as this. At the opposite end of the 'intention scale' it is argued that I intend some consequences if it is likely that my actions will have those consequences. Over the last thirty years the meaning of intention has varied between these to extremes. In Hyam v DPP (1974) the House of Lords accepted that the accused `intends' the conseqences of his actions if it is ``highly probable'' that those consequences will arise from the actions. However, there was no general agreement on how probable ...

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