Death by misadventure#Verdict

{{short description|Death by voluntary risk}}

{{Other uses}}

{{Globalize|2=the United Kingdom|date=December 2024}}

In the United Kingdom, death by misadventure is the recorded manner of death for an accidental death caused by a risk taken voluntarily.{{cite book |last=Bryant |first=Clifton D. |author-link=Clifton D. Bryant |year=2003 |title=Handbook of Death & Dying |location=Thousand Oaks, California |publisher=Sage Publications |pages=968 |isbn=978-0-7619-2514-9}}

Misadventure in English law, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is a death that is primarily attributed to an accident that occurred due to a risk that was taken voluntarily. In contrast, when the manner of death is given as an accident, the coroner has determined that the decedent had taken no unreasonable willful risk.

"Misadventure may be the right conclusion when a death arises from some deliberate human act which unexpectedly and unintentionally goes wrong."{{Cite web |title=Coroners Guidance No.17 |url=https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/guidance-no-17-conclusions.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128215045/https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/guidance-no-17-conclusions.pdf |archive-date=2019-11-28 |url-status=unfit |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=Judiciary UK}}

Legally defined manner of death: a way by which an actual cause of death (trauma, exposure, etc.) was allowed to occur. For example, a death caused by an illicit drug overdose may be ruled a death by misadventure, as the user took the risk of drug usage voluntarily. Misadventure is a form of unnatural death, a category that also includes accidental death, suicide, and homicide.

In the case of R v Wolverhampton Coroner,R v Wolverhampton Coroner, ex p McCurbin [1990] 1 WLR 719 it was held that the coroner must establish death by misadventure on the balance of probabilities, commonly known as "more likely than not". This is opposed to beyond reasonable doubt, which is used elsewhere.{{Cite book |last=Munday |first=R. J. C. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1082270459 |title=Cross and Tapper on evidence |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-19-966860-1 |edition=13th |location=Oxford |oclc=1082270459}}

Selected list of deaths by misadventure

class="wikitable"

|+List of deaths by misadventure

!Person

!Date of death

!Ref

Kristian Digby

|1 March 2010

|{{cite web |date=9 November 2010 |title=BBC TV presenter Kristian Digby's death 'misadventure' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11718414 |accessdate=9 November 2010 |publisher=BBC News |archive-date=11 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111065407/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11718414 |url-status=live }}

Julia Lennon

|15 July 1958

|{{cite news |author= |date=15 August 1958 |title=Dashed into car: misadventure verdict on Liverpool woman |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19580815/018/0001 |work=Liverpool Echo |location=Liverpool, England |access-date=28 November 2024 |via=British Newspaper Archive}}

Gaynor Lord

|c. 8 December 2023

|{{cite news |last=Murray |first=Jessica |date=1 October 2024 |title=Gaynor Lord died by misadventure after entering Norwich river, coroner finds

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/01/gaynor-lord-died-by-misadventure-after-entering-norwich-river-coroner-finds |work=The Guardian |location=Norwich, England |access-date=5 February 2025}}

Stephen Milligan

|7 February 1994

|{{cite news |date=23 March 1994 |title=MP 'was worried over tarnished television image': Coroner records misadventure verdict on Milligan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/mp-was-worried-over-tarnished-television-image-coroner-records-misadventure-verdict-on-milligan-1430950.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/mp-was-worried-over-tarnished-television-image-coroner-records-misadventure-verdict-on-milligan-1430950.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |access-date=15 December 2015 |work=The Independent}}

Bon Scott

|19 February 1980

|{{cite news |last=Jinman |first=Richard |title=25 years on, AC/DC fans recall how wild rocker met his end |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/19/arts.artsnews |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=19 February 2005 |access-date=7 August 2008}}

Oliver Steeper

|23 September 2021

|{{cite news |last=Hannett |first= Josie |date=23 May 2024 |title=Coroner flags concerns over first aid training |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nnvdye0l1o |access-date=28 November 2024 |work=BBC}}

Amy Winehouse

|23 July 2011

|{{Cite news |date=8 January 2013 |title=Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning, second inquest confirms |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jan/08/amy-winehouse-alcohol-poisoning-inquest |access-date=12 August 2024}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{UK law}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Death by natural causes}}

Misadventure

Category:Medical terminology

Category:Law of the United Kingdom

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