| Fox v R | |
| Court: | Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |
| Date Decided: | 11 March 2002 |
| Full Name: | Berthill Fox, Appellant v The Queen, Respondent |
| Citations: | [2002] UKPC 13, [2002] 2 AC 284, [2002] 2 WLR 1077 |
| Prior Actions: | Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (from Saint Kitts and Nevis) |
| Opinions: | Lord Rodger of Earlsferry |
| Keywords: | Capital punishment; inhuman or degrading punishment |
Fox v R is a 2002 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) case in which it was held that it was unconstitutional in Saint Kitts and Nevis for capital punishment to be the mandatory sentence for murder. The JCPC held that because the Constitution of Saint Kitts and Nevis prohibits "inhuman or degrading punishment", following a murder conviction, a trial judge must have discretion to impose a lesser penalty than death by hanging; capital punishment may be applied only in those cases that contain aggravating factors as compared to other murder cases.
The case involved British bodybuilder Bertil Fox, who in 1998 was convicted of murdering his former fiancée and her mother the previous year. The case was decided with Reyes v R and R v Hughes, cases on the same issue on appeal from Belize and Saint Lucia.