R v JF and another

Criminal law – Manslaughter. The defendants, then aged 14 and 16, started a fire in an derelict building which spread causing the death of a homeless man. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, in dismissing their appeals against their conviction for manslaughter, considered issues of intent and forseeability and held that the judge had correctly directed the jury on the basis of the well-established law and had given no misdirection adverse to the defendants. In the circumstances, the court quashed the sentences of three years' detention and substituted a 24 month detention and training order.