Parliament made clear two years ago that sexual infidelity should not be allowed as a defence for murder, whatever the circumstances. A partner’s affair could no longer be treated by courts as a defensible reason to lose control and kill.
However, giving judgment last week, on three domestic killing appeals, Lord Chief Justice Judge ruled: “Where sexual infidelity is integral to and forms an essential part of the context the prohibition does not operate to exclude it.”
It seems that parliament says infidelity doesn’t count and the court says it does.
Killing a wife for infidelity was “classic” provocation under the law prior to 2009. The courts were littered with cases in which men blamed their partner’s adultery for making them kill her.
In the case of Morgan James Smith in 1999, Lord Hoffman noted that historically one of the legal justifications for killing due to losing self-control had been finding a wife in adultery. It was regarded as “the highest invasion of property”.
I am a secret fan of the reality TV show Cheaters. The appeals on Twitter for a local version of the show that exposes unfaithful spouses has motivated me to confess. The hype has been prompted by the e.tv promo featuring a local woman being shown video footage of her boyfriend at a chisanyama with several women.
Things heat up when Don Juan kisses one of his companions, which causes his suspicious but surprised girlfriend almost to faint. It comes to a head when she starts removing her jewellery in preparation for the confrontation between herself and the cheaters.
What happens after that is left to our imaginations because, as it turns out, the promo is a marketing gimmick for the US version, which plays on Wednesday nights. The script for the skirmish is always the same, though: the hysterical, aggrieved party screams profanities and beats up the cheaters, who are in most cases much more mortified by the cameras and all the commotion than they are about being caught in a compromising position.
My fascination with Cheaters has always been with how far people will go to verify or dispel any suspicions they may have about their partner’s fidelity. Cheaters is the extreme route, and perhaps a guide for what not to do.
But is there a foolproof method to check fidelity? Since the promo was launched, I’ve heard many sad and hilarious tales of snooping partners. I’m not talking about stalkers and bunny-boilers but ordinary people you could be friends with, or are already friends with.
When your eyes glance at the morning headlines or anxiously await the start of the next lusty soap opera, it’s the illicit affairs of the heart … and of the mind that continue to fascinate and distract us. To sate to your drama-hungry, gossip-lovin’ soul, here are some interesting and entertaining tidbits pertaining to the secret, sexy world of infidelity and more.
PLAYING GAMES
Nearly half of social gamers end up cheating in real life. (PC Advisor)
YOUR CHEATIN’ CHIN
According to a study, women with larger chins are more likely to cheat. (The Daily Telegraph)
TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK
Researchers say that men are more than likely to forgive a cheating partner’s lesbian fling vs. a tryst with the opposite sex. (The Daily Telegraph)
FACING TROUBLE
Some American lawyers suggest that the mega popular social networking site, Facebook, plays a heavy hand in multiple marriage breakups. (The Guardian)
You’re married and you discover that your spouse is unfaithful. You’re devastated and consider getting a divorce. But, divorce doesn’t seem to be enough — shouldn’t someone pay for the anguish and shame the affair has caused you?
And that may be appropriate, Corbett says. If we believe that marriage is important, shouldn’t we be able to punish those who try to destroy it?
Deans doesn’t think it should stop at married couples, however. She wants the torts to cover cohabiting couples and other “quasi-marriages,” since more people are seeking alternative committed relationships.
A husband who strangled his wife after she taunted him about her affairs yesterday had his murder conviction quashed.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said “sexual infidelity” by victims must be taken into account in triggering the new “loss of control” defence.
Jon-Jaques Clinton, 45, of Bracknell, Berks, was last year found guilty at Reading crown court of murdering wife Dawn, 33.
But Clinton, who said she “evinced pure hatred for him”, remains in custody and will now face a retrial.
In a ruling that could affect future “crime of passion” cases, Lord Judge said the trial judge was wrong to discount infidelity and take away from jurors the new defence that could reduce a conviction to manslaughter.
England’s most senior judge yesterday said juries should be allowed to consider whether a victim’s infidelity was a possible provocation for murder.
The decision by Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge undermined murder law reforms and brought the idea of the crime of passion defence back into the courts.
The last Labour Government abolished the defence to murder of provocation – in place since 1957 – and replaced it with a partial defence of ‘loss of control’.
Under this law, a jury may consider whether loss of self-control has been triggered by a killer’s fear of serious violence on the part of their victim, or if it was because they had a ‘justifiable sense of being seriously wronged’ – excluding infidelity.
But Lord Judge said that to ignore infidelity could be ‘unrealistic and carries with it the potential for injustice’.
Thanks to the courageous female pioneers of the past few centuries, women now have the same rights as men (thanks Susan B. & co!). Though the sexes still aren’t 100 percent equal, us ladies are certainly working hard to be respected as much as our male counterparts. The latest struggle we’ve almost won? Infidelity!
Yes, ladies can now boast, “I am woman, hear me roar! I can vote like a man, be the boss of a man and dammit, I can cheat like a man, too!” Oh, how far we’ve come.
Of course, I don’t think women who cheat are actually proud of their cheating, nor should they be. However, some interesting results from a new study suggest that although men are commonly stereotyped as the most likely to be unfaithful, women aren’t too far behind — if they’re behind at all, that is. Researchers from Indiana University and Manchester Metropolitan University found that 20 to 25 percent of guys and 15 to 20 percent of ladies commit extramarital affairs. 10 Signs A Woman Is Cheating: Do They Ring True To You?
What’s worse is that the researchers claim the female percentage may be a bit underestimated: Women, in an effort to protect their reputations and relationships, aren’t as willing to spill the number of times they’ve cheated on a partner. So, in short, thanks to unreliable self-reporting, the number could be even higher than 20 percent, putting us ladies even with — or beating — the dudes. Some polls even suggest that half of all females have cheated. Yikes! 9 Inconvenient Truths about Men & Cheating.
A woman who cheated on her estranged husband could face a month in jail or a hefty fine under Arizona’s archaic laws against adultery.
Traci Banks admits having two extra-marital affairs, but David, her husband of 17 years, says she has cheated on him several more times.
He says he has spent years asking police in Glendale, Arizona to investigate his wife, but they have only just agreed to do so.
However, they warn that Mrs Banks is unlikely to be prosecuted – and one officer even advised Mr Banks to ‘get on with his life’ and accept the end of his marriage.
Mr Banks told KPHO that his wife first had an affair ten years ago, and has cheated on him seven or eight times altogether.
When you have a hit TV show, there’s a lot of money to be made in ancillary products, such as t-shirts, notebooks, stickers or mousepads.
But when your show is “Cheaters,” a syndicated reality series that investigates cheating spouses and records the often-violent confrontations that ensue, your options are limited.
No matter that the show is in season 12, its sordid subject matter makes it hard to market, say, a “Cheaters” spaghetti sauce, or designer perfume.
The show did participate in a “No Cheaters” dating website for a while, but now series creator Bobby Goldstein thinks he’s found a better product for his corporate brand: A website that sells spy goods.
It’s called Cheaters Spy Shop, and sells all sorts of surveillance gear for suspicious minds, including recovery sticks that can pull up anything currently on the iPhone and even recover deleted information; mobile software that will send a person all texts and pictures being sent, web history, call logs, and GPS location every 30 minutes; and even motion-activated hidden cameras that record any movement and activity in high resolution.
“We also sell audio recorders that look like pens,” Allen Watson, president of the Cheaters Spy Shop, told HuffPost Weird News. “They’re great if you’re getting harassed at work. You put them in your pocket to get evidence of harassment for the H.R. department.”
A WEBSITE which encourages infidelity has seen a huge increase of members thanks to a holiday season spent in close proximity with partners.
New data has revealed the strain the festive period can put on married couples, and far from being a period of relaxation, it appears that ‘quality time with the family’ is in fact driving men and women across Australia to seek extra-marital affairs when they return to work.
Infidelity website AshleyMadison.com site profiled its members, and found that on the first day back at work there was a 389% increase in membership sign-ups with 2,000 new members seeking people with whom to be unfaithful. Making Monday 9th January the busiest day of the year for the previous 12-months.
The data is in line with figures showing January as the number-one month for filing divorces in Australia, as couples seek a fresh start in the New Year after realising how incompatible they are.
Noel Biderman, CEO and founder of AshleyMadison.com, said: “Married couples will spend large amounts of time together over the Christmas break. Unfortunately for many, rather than this acting as a bonding exercise, it simply highlights incompatibilities, especially when it comes to physical intimacy. The New Year can amplify this feeling and men and women across Australia decide to do something different, in this case seek an affair.”
Lips glossed and heels clicking, I feel guilty as hell as I approach the bar, convinced everyone here knows exactly what I’m up to. I spot Rob immediately, with his floppy hair, sexy smile, beautifully-cut suit . . . and wedding ring.
Before you judge, I’m happily married and not about to embark on some sordid assignation. In fact, if all goes to plan, Rob won’t even know I’m here.
You see, I’ve spent the past few days at the UK’s first women-only private detective school, shadowing sleuth Carrie Austin who runs all-female detective agency Harriet Bond (yes, the name is a nod to 007).
Here, they teach you everything from how to put someone under surveillance — as we’re now doing with Rob — to tracing missing persons and even substantiating alibis on behalf of lawyers.
Carrie and her eight-strong team take on cases all over the country. Work is booming, despite the recession, and suspected infidelity is the biggest business by far, with women desperate to confirm whether their worst fears are true.
“Life is short. Have an affair.” That’s the controversial tag line for Ashley Madison, a dating website for married people looking to cheat on their partners. While its traditional competitors promise users a happily ever after, the increasingly popular company is a self-proclaimed “leading name in infidelity.”
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