Is a Ligature a "Knife or Other Weapon"? R v Morgan [2018] EWCA Crim 954; [2018] WLR (D) 177.

The sentencing of those convicted of murder has been an area of contention since the abolition of the death penalty (Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, s 1). Lord Bingham CJ sought to achieve some consistency of approach in murder cases but not to bind trial judges. Lord Bingham CJ recommended to judges that a minimum term of 14 years was to be served for the "average", "normal" or "unexceptional" murder and a minimum term of 30 years in very rare cases. Lord Bingham CJ's approach was confirmed by his successor Lord Woolf CJ (see I Practice Statement (Juveniles: Murder Tariff) i [2000] 1 WLR 1655, 1656). [Extracted from the article]