... in a panick, put her in a river where she drowned. In the second case, some boys threw part of a paving stone towards a railway line and it killed a guard in the front of a passing train. Both were held to be cases of constructive manslaughter. I would however argue that there is an essential difference between the two: Church knew that in knocking his victim unconscious and then pushing her into a river she would end up dead, whereas the boys, although they committed an unlawful and dangerous act, did not necessarily realise that their actions would result in death. Having two separate offences and as a result two separate punishments which could be applied to cases which are similarly distinct would be highly desirable. However, both cases demonstrate some difficulties with the Law Commission's proposal. Firstly, Church claimed he honestly believed his victim to be dead ...

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