On a winter’s morning Reginald Woolmington, a 21 year old farmhand, rode his bicycle to the home of his mother-in-law. He wore an overcoat. Underneath the overcoat a loaded sawn off shot gun was suspended from his shoulder by a length of wire. He went to the house, he later said, to confront Violet, his 17 year old wife. Violet had left him some weeks before. He told the police that his intention was to show Violet the gun and threaten to kill himself if she did not return home. Violet’s Aunt was hanging out the washing when she heard Reginald talking to Violet followed by a gunshot. By the time she reached her Violet was dead. Reginald claimed to have loved Violet with all of his heart and that her death was a tragic accident that occurred when the gun went off as he brought it out to show her.

At his Trial the judge told the jury that if they were convinced that Reginald killed Violet it was up to him to convince them that the shooting was an accident .Reginald gave evidence. He admitted shooting Violet but said that he did not mean to. The jury were not convinced that it was an accident and he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He appealed unsuccessfully at first and eventually his case came before the House of Lords.

The case of Woolmington v DPP [1935] 462 was further immortalised by John Mortimor’s creation,  Horace Rumpole, who never tired of quoting from the leading judgement delivered by Viscount Sankey who said” Throughout the web of the…criminal law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove…guilt…If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt…the prosecution has not made out the case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal. No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law…and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained.”

The law has certainly moved on from that morning in 1934 when Reginald took his fateful bike ride and the criminal law has become an infinitely more complicated web than it was then but the golden thread remains largely intact and at Skinner & Associates we are committed to defending it to our utmost.

If you are charged with a crime today you need to have access to prompt, comprehensive and insightful advice from people who know how the twenty-first century criminal justice system works in reality but who also understand that some fundamental things do not, and should not, change.

Reginald Woolmington was acquitted and released from gaol three days before he was due to be hanged.