Benjamin Myers QC secures verdict of Not Guilty to Murder

August 4, 2021

Benjamin Myers QC from Exchange Chambers has secured a verdict of not guilty to murder for AM after a trial at Chester Crown Court. The allegation of murder arose from the death of a 3-month-old baby in July 2020 from catastrophic head and brain injuries. AM was the baby’s father.

The case turned on expert evidence of pathology, neuropathology, neurosurgery, histopathology and radiology. This evidence disclosed an assault at the time that AM was in sole charge of the victim, and evidence of over fifty rib fractures to the victim that had been inflicted over the course of her tragically short life. These injuries occurred against a background of very difficult domestic circumstances for AM, in light of which the defence maintained that any unlawful assault constituted manslaughter and not murder. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the charge of murder, finding AM responsible for the lesser offence of manslaughter instead.

Ben led Mark Connor of St John’s Buildings, Chester, and was instructed by Mark Jackson of Cohen Cramer Solicitors, Leeds.