Heroin death conviction quashed

A man found guilty of killing a drug addict who died after injecting heroin he had supplied has had his conviction quashed by the House of Lords.

Simon Kennedy was jailed for five years in November 1997 for the manslaughter of Marco Bosque.

But five Law Lords ruled Mr Bosque chose to inject himself knowing what he was doing and cleared Mr Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy and Mr Bosque were living at a hostel for the homeless in London at the time of the death in 1996.

Intoxicated

In their written judgment, Lord Bingham, Lord Rodger, Baroness Hale, Lord Carswell and Lord Mance said Mr Bosque was "a fully-informed and responsible adult" and so Mr Kennedy could not be held responsible.

Their ruling said there was no doubt that Mr Kennedy had committed an unlawful and criminal act by supplying the heroin to Mr Bosque, but added that "the act of supplying, without more, could not harm the deceased in any physical way, let alone cause his death".

It continued: "Generally speaking, informed adults of sound mind are treated as autonomous beings able to make their own decisions how they will act, and none of the exceptions is relied on as possibly applicable in this case."

Mr Bosque's cause of death was inhalation of gastric contents while acutely intoxicated by opiates and alcohol.