Maria Karaiskos KC and Colin Witcher appear in notable Court of Appeal decision on self-defence

Maria Karaiskos KC and Colin Witcher appeared in the Court of Appeal in R v Yasar Hussain [2026] EWCA Crim 699, representing the appellant in an appeal against his conviction for murder.

Whilst the conviction was upheld, the Court delivered valuable guidance on the circumstances in which self‑defence must be left to a jury, even where it is not expressly advanced at trial.

The judgment reaffirms the established principle that a Trial Judge must direct on self‑defence whenever the evidence, taken at its highest, raises a prima facie case, whilst also confirming that the defence should not be left to the jury  where doing so would invite speculation unsupported by the evidence.

This decision provides important clarification for appellate and trial practitioners on:

• the evidential threshold required to raise self‑defence
• the relationship between self‑defence and partial defences such as manslaughter
• the proper evaluation of the evidential matrix as a whole

Maria and Colin brought their extensive appellate expertise to a legally complex and fact‑sensitive case, assisting the Court in producing a judgment that will serve as a valuable point of reference for future trials and appeals.

The full judgment can be found here.