The applicant, of Roma origin with a troubled and criminal history. The Court considered the minister’s refusal of her request for a residence permit to enable her to live with her husband (entitled to permanent residence since 1988) and their son (born in 1989). The grounds of refusal included public order grounds, but also her … Continue reading Konstatinov v The Netherlands: ECHR 26 Apr 2007
The appellants challenged the legality under European law of orders under the Act restricting their freedom of movement, after suspicion of involvement in football violence. Held: Although the proceedings under which orders were made were civil, the standard of proof required was virtually that of a criminal court. Public policy could be used to justify … Continue reading Gough and Another v Chief Constable of Derbyshire: CA 20 Mar 2002
The claimants challenged the instruction that they must squat whilst undergoing a strip search in prison. A dog search had given cause to supect the presence of explosives in the wing, and the officers understood that such explosives might be hidden anally. Held: The common thread in all the cases has been the search to … Continue reading Regina v Carroll and Al-Hasan and Secretary of State for Home Department: Admn 16 Feb 2001
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares. Held: The duties of an auditor are founded in contract and the extent of the duties … Continue reading Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others: HL 8 Feb 1990
The applicants had been made subject of anti-social behaviour orders. They challenged the basis upon which the orders had been made. Held: The orders had no identifiable consequences which would make the process a criminal one. Civil standards of evidence therefore applied, and hearsay evidence was admissible. Nevertheless, the test as to whether it was … Continue reading Clingham (formerly C (a minor)) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Regina v Crown Court at Manchester Ex parte McCann and Others: HL 17 Oct 2002
The defendant appealed the making of a sex offender order under 1998 Act. The justices had found that the defendant was a sex offender within section 2(1)(a) and that he had acted on a number of occasions in a way which brought him within section 2(1)(b). Held: The civil standard of proof is flexible and … Continue reading B v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary: QBD 5 Apr 2000
Two children died when their father jumped with them from a hotel balcony. The father had been acquitted in Crete of manslaughter after evidence of his psychiatric condition. The applicant now challenged the English coroner’s verdict of unlawful killing. Held: If the trial had been in England, a coroner could not make a finding inconsistent … Continue reading O’Connor, Regina (On the Application of) v HM Coroner for District of Avon and Another: Admn 7 May 2009
1267 – 1278 – 1285 – 1297 – 1361 – 1449 – 1491 – 1533 – 1677 – 1688 – 1689 – 1700 – 1706 – 1710 – 1730 – 1737 – 1738 – 1751 – 1774 – 1792 – 1793 – 1804 – 1814 – 1819 – 1824 – 1828 – 1831 – 1832 … Continue reading Acts
The applicant had been released from prison on licence, but was subject to the use of an electronic tag, because his offence had been one of violence. The tag was removed and the applicant made himself scarce. His licence was revoked. His solicitors made representations about this, but his request was not to be dealt … Continue reading Ahmed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Admn 4 May 2006
Citations: [2004] EWCA Civ 310 Links: Bailii Statutes: Crime and Disorder Act 1988 1C Jurisdiction: England and Wales Housing, Local Government Updated: 11 September 2022; Ref: scu.194686
Appeal by case stated against conviction for racially aggravated publishing of threatening abusive or insulting materials. The defendant had put up posters at various places with pictures of people convicted of murder and announcing ‘Illegal . .
Appeals were brought complaining as to the apparent reversal of the burden of proof in road traffic cases and in cases under the Terrorism Acts. Was a legal or an evidential burden placed on a defendant? Held: Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘The overriding concern is that a trial should be fair, and the presumption … Continue reading Sheldrake v Director of Public Prosecutions; Attorney General’s Reference No 4 of 2002: HL 14 Oct 2004
The claimant had been the subject of a raid by armed police on his home. The raid was a mistake. He complained that the English legal system, in rejecting his claim had not allowed him to assert that the police action had been disproportionate. Held: The claimant’s right to respect for his home had been … Continue reading Keegan v United Kingdom: ECHR 18 Jul 2006
Prisoner’s death – need for full public enquiry The deceased had been a young Asian prisoner. He was placed in a cell overnight with a prisoner known to be racist, extremely violent and mentally unstable. He was killed. The family sought an inquiry into the death. Held: There had been a police investigation and trial … Continue reading Amin, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 16 Oct 2003
The claimants had been detained under the 1971 Act, after completing sentences of imprisonment pending their return to their home countries under deportations recommended by the judges at trial, or chosen by the respondent. They challenged as unlawful the respondent’s, at first unpublished, policy introduced in 2006, that by default, those awaiting deportation should be … Continue reading Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: SC 23 Mar 2011
The defendant was convicted of murder. He claimed diminished responsibility arising from a disorder, being either according to one psychiatrist, arising from alcohol dependence syndrome, or according to another, a depressed grief reaction. The substantial issue related to the judge’s directions on the alcohol dependence. The defendant did not suggest he had a craving: his … Continue reading Dietschmann v Regina: CACD 5 Oct 2001
The respondent had been convicted of thirteen murders and eight attempted murders. He had claimed to have been acting in response to a divine voice heard when he worked in a graveyard. He was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic. The murders had created a climate of terror over many months over a wide area and he … Continue reading Regina v Coonan (Formerly Sutcliffe): QBD 16 Jul 2010
The defendant appealed by case stated against his conviction under the 1988 Act of possessing a bladed article in a public place. He had been found in the forecourt of a hostel by the police seeking to re-enter after being excluded. He said that it was not a public place. Held: The appeal succeeded. Sedley … Continue reading Harriot v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 4 May 2005
Rejection of Submission of No Case to Answer The defendant had faced a charge of affray. The court having rejected his submission of having no case to answer, he had made an exculpatory statement from the dock. He appealed against his conviction. Held: Lord Lane LCJ said: ‘How then should the judge approach a submission … Continue reading Regina v Galbraith: CCA 1981
The defendant had faced trial on terrorist charges. He claimed that delay and the very substantial adverse publicity had made his fair trial impossible, and that it was not an offence for a foreign national to solicit murders to be carried out abroad. Held: The appeal failed. Murder is singled out as an offence even … Continue reading Regina v Abu Hamza: CACD 28 Nov 2006
The defendant appealed against his conviction. Before he gave evidence, his legal team withdrew for professional embarrassment. He now complained that notwithstanding that he was unrepresented, prosecuting counsel had been permitted to make a closing address. Held: The appeal failed. Rose LJ said: ‘So far as the prosecution’s second speech is concerned, in the light … Continue reading Stovell, Regina v: CACD 12 Jan 2006
There was an argument over payment for food with the Turkish chef of a takeaway kebab shop during the course of which the defendant used the words ‘bloody foreigners’ and pushed the shop window causing it to crack. The justices doubted whether the . .
