The House of Lords handed down judgment in the case of R v JTB [2009] UKHL 20 on 29th April 2009. The appeal from the lower court’s decision reported at [2008] 3 WLR 923 concerned section 34 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 c. 37. The House had to decide whether section 34 had abolished altogether the defence of doli incapax for children aged 10 and 14 years or had only removed the rebuttable presumption that the child had that defence.

The House discussed the earlier case law such as C (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions [1996] 1 AC 1 and applying Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593 also considered the ministerial statements regarding section 34. Dismissing the appeal, the House stated that the trial judge and the Court of Appeal were correct to hold that the defence of doli incapax was no longer available in cases such as the appellant’s.