Reform of murder laws will replace 'provocation' defence

New reforms to the murder laws which could see killers defend themselves by proving they were motivated by "words and conduct" which left them "seriously wronged" were at the centre of a growing debate today.

The overhaul of existing laws said the current defence of provocation should be replaced, with the new "words and conduct" defence only being available in exceptional cases.

If a jury accepts a partial defence in a murder trial the defendant can be convicted of manslaughter instead, and receive a much lower sentence.

The proposals - which have taken more than four years to draw up - will also create a new partial defence of "fear of serious violence". It would mean, for example, that men and women facing domestic violence could argue they were forced to kill their tormentor. However, the Ministry of Justice-said the law would be changed to make it clear that someone who discovers their partner is having an affair would not be entitled to argue they had been "seriously wronged".

Men and women who suffered a "slow burn" of domestic violence over a period of time could also use one of the partial defences under today's proposals, overturning current law which requires them to have acted on the spur of the moment.

Current laws have made it too easy for men to kill their wives and claim they were provoked by the victim's infidelity, but at the same restricted the use of partial defences by women with abusive partners, government documents said.

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women, today said the changes would abolish the "centuries-old" defence of provocation. She told GMTV: "We're toughening it up, so a man who kills his wife, and then says, 'It's not murder, it's not my fault, she provoked me, she was planning to leave me', that defence of provocation, we're getting rid of it. There's never any justification, however painful things are in a relationship, for a man who kills his wife to say: 'It's not my fault I killed her'.

"These men who have killed their wives, because she's going to leave him or she's having an affair, that centuriesold defence, it's long overdue, and we're going to abolish it."