Bella, a model, was married to James who often beat her and once threatened to kill her. Bella took a drug overdose following the breakup of her marriage. She survived the episode but started to suffer from hallucinations. She became paranoid and convinced that James would carry out his threats to kill her while she was asleep. She also suffered from bouts of serious depression.

Bella attended therapy and became infatuated with her therapist, Raul. Hoping that he would return her love, Bella crept into Raul's house one night while he slept, fell over a step, and got up feeling dazed and disoriented. She grabbed some personal photographs of Raul and his family and left.

Bella had been prescribed tablets to control her symptoms but had been told by her doctor to use them sparingly. She was alone in her flat because her flatmate, Tes, was on holiday. Unable to sleep, Bella took lots of the prescribed tablets together and fell asleep. She was awoken by a loud noise in the middle of the night.Confused and in a daze, Bella crept into the dark living room carrying a cricket bat that she kept near her bed and spotted a figure in the dark. Convinced it was James, she struck the figure with the bat repeatedly. In fact, the figure was her flatmate, Tes, who had come home early and died as a result of the beating.

Advise Bella of any DEFENCES that she may plead to charges of theft and murder.

Subject: Criminal Law

Country: UK