⇒ The actus reus of murder is the unlawful killing of another person in the Queen’s peace.

⇒ A person: the victim of homicide must be a person.

• According to law an unborn child cannot be a victim of murder/manslaughter because they are not yet people (Vo v France (2006)).

⇒ Unlawfully: If the defendant is able to rely on the defence of self-defence he/she has not been killed unlawfully (R v Beckford [1988]).

⇒ Queen’s peace: It must be shown that the killing took place in the Queen’s peace i.e. this is why killing someone at war is not murder.

⇒ Killed: the defendant must have caused the death of the victim. It must be shown that the defendant sped up the death of the victim by more than a negligible amount (R v Adams [1957]).

⇒ The mens rea of murder is an intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.

⇒ Intention: see the definition of intention here.

⇒ Kill or grievous bodily harm to the victim: Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) means really serious harm (DPP v Smith [1961]). A harm can be a GBH even though it would not pose a risk to the life of the victim (R v Bollom [2003]). Only an intention to kill or cause GBH is needed to establish the mens rea of murder (R v Vickers [1957]).