Thabo Meli [1954] 1 All ER 373 PC FACTS: The appellants hit V over the head with intent to kill him. Thinking that they had killed him, they rolled his body over the cliff to make his death appear accidental. It was later discovered that V died from exposure at the foot of the cliff. HELD: The appellants had the mens rea for murder when they hit V, but not when they did the act that caused his death, as they thought he was already dead at this point. The Privy Council said that because the appellants' acts were performed in pursuance of an antecedent plan to kill the victim, the series of acts could not be divided up. They formed one transaction and it was enough that the mens rea existed at some point during that transaction. Lord Reid said:

'It appears to their Lordships impossible to divide up what was really one series of acts in this way. There is no doubt that the accused set out to do all these acts in order to achieve their plan, and as part of their plan; and it is much too refined an argument to say that, because they were under a misapprehension at one stage and thought that their guilty purpose had been achieved before, in fact, it was achieved, therefore they are to escape the penalties of the law.'