Review joint enterprise law urges Justice Committee

The House of Commons Justice Committee has called for an urgent review of the law on joint enterprise.

This law enables a group of people to be prosecuted for murder even if they were not directly responsible. For a conviction prosecutors only have to show that a person present at the scene could have foreseen serious harm occurring. A conviction for murder carries a mandatory life sentence. 

The law is often used in apparent 'gang-related' murder cases to convict associates of the defendant present at the time of the killing. However, these people may have had little actual involvement in the killing.

The Committee report recommends that secondary figures are charged with lesser offences such as manslaugter.