Judges clear drunk killer

An alcoholic who hacked his friend to death with a meat cleaver has had his murder conviction quashed – after judges ruled he was too drunk to know what he was doing.

In Clive Wood’s landmark case, Appeal Court judges recognised for the first time that the “irresistible cravings” of an alcoholic may be a valid defence to a murder charge.

Wood, of Walsall, who was jailed for at least 17 years for attacking Francis Ryan in 2006, will now be resentenced for manslaughter.

During his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court he claimed he was in the grip of a booze-induced frenzy. 

The ruling that “alcohol dependency syndrome” can amount to an “abnormality of mind” transforms the law which, up until today, dictated that to take a drink is a “voluntary” act and provides no excuse if the consequences prove fatal.

Wood, 48, was an alcoholic drifter and after drinking several cans of Stella Artois, a litre of White Storm cider, as well as whisky and vodka, with a group of alcoholics known as the “breakfast club”, was invited back to Mr Ryan’s flat on July 20 2005.

He slaughtered 36-year-old Mr Ryan striking him thirty-seven times with a meat cleaver and a lump hammer at his home at Jones House, Penkridge Street, Birchills. 

Mr Francis was found with 53 injuries, including a fractured skull. He had claimed he had fallen asleep on a sofa and had awoke to find Mr Francis indecently assaulting him.

In the past, courts have only recognised alcohol intoxication as a defence to a murder charge when alcohol has been taken involuntarily or where it amounts to “automatism”, in which a drinker effectively blacks out.

Quashing Wood’s murder conviction, judges ruled that amounted to a mis-direction of the jury.