Leading barrister Michael Wolkind QC who acted for Copeland highlights jury vagaries. For some people diminished responsibility by reason of mental illness is always going to be mumbo-jumbo. Many jurors would feel uncomfortable not giving the kind of sentence they feel the families of victims may want. If they are going to accept mental illness, they want to see people on the floor crawling and drooling. If someone behaves in a seemingly normal way for some of the time that will be seen as evidence of their rationality.
Professional opinion is no more uniform than public.
In one murder trial, a prison psychiatrist told the court she believed the accused was of sound mind because he was capable of sweeping the floor neatly. The lack of precise definition is reflected in trial outcomes. There was considerable evidence for Copeland s mental illness, but the manslaughter plea was rejected. However, when Richard Fielding was tried earlier this year for the killing of seven family members whose house he had set alight, his plea of diminished responsibility was accepted. Unusually, a personality disorder proved adequate to avoid a murder charge.