Constructive Manslaughter

CPS legal guidance on homicide explains that where an unlawful killing is done without an intention to kill or to cause grievous bodily harm, the suspect is to be charged with manslaughter not murder, and that there are primarily two types of involuntary manslaughter, that caused by an unlawful or dangerous act and that caused by gross negligence. The guidance separately labels the unlawful-act variant as conduct taking the form of an unlawful act involving a danger of some harm that resulted in death ("unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter").

For unlawful act manslaughter specifically, the guidance sets out the elements prosecutors must prove: the prosecution must prove an intentional act (not omission); that the intentional act is unlawful, and that it is an act which all sober and reasonable people would inevitably realise must subject the victim to at least some risk of harm. This dangerousness test is objective — it does not depend on what the particular defendant foresaw — and is assessed by reference to the Judicial College's Crown Court Compendium for jury directions.