ABSTRACT
Mustill J: ... The facts set out in the case [stated by the justices who convicted the defendant] are short but striking. On the evening of 11 October 1978, the defendant had been drinking. At 10.45 pm she engaged a taxi to take her to 67 Carnach Green, South Ockendon, a house occupied by Mr Heyfron, a gentleman with whom she had a relationship such that, in the words of the justices, she had his consent at any time to treat his property as if it were her own. Alighting from the taxi, she entered the garden, but was asked to leave by a Mrs Raven, who was a stranger to her. Persisting, she broke the glass in the hallway of the house. She then went to the back door, where she broke another window, and gained entry to the house, damaging a net curtain in the process. At some time thereafter, in circumstances not described by the justices, it became clear that the house was not 67 Carnach Green, but 35 Carnach Green, a house of identical outward appearance, occupied by Mrs Raven. The justices have found that the defendant did believe that she was breaking into the property of Mr Heyfron, but that this mistake was brought about by a state of self-induced intoxication.
