ABSTRACT

Lawton LJ: ... [T]he appellant was convicted of an indecent assault on a woman ...

The appeal raises these points. First, can a defendant charged with indecent assault on a woman raise the defence that he believed she had consented to what he did? ... Second, if he could, did the jury have to consider merely whether his belief was honestly held or, if it was, did they have to go on to consider whether it was based on reasonable grounds? Another way of putting these points is to ask whether the principles upon which the House of Lords decided R v Morgan [1976] AC 182 should be applied to a charge of indecent assault on a woman.