The appellant's behaviour in mounting a fatal assault with a cutlass was so bizarre as to call out for a detailed psychiatric examination: the fact that such an examination had not been conducted before his trial justified the late reception of psychiatric evidence to the effect that the appellant was suffering from diminished responsibility.

PC (Trin) (Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hutton, Sir Patrick Russell, Sir Roy Beldam, Sir Andrew Leggatt)

20/08/1999