The respondent had been subject to a civil search, which revealed the existence of obscene images of children on his computer. He appealed against refusal of an order that the evidence should not be passed to the police as evidence. He said that the order infringed his right against self-incrimination. He had permitted the search after saying that he did so only on the basis that he would rely upon the privilege if necessary.
Held: His appeal was dismissed. The only issue before the court was whether the civil claimant had a discretion to pass material to the police. ‘no privilege exists in the material itself which is itself ‘real’ and ‘independent’ evidence and is not itself ‘compelled testimony’ from P.’
Longmore LJ, Lawrence Collins LJ, Sir Martin Nourse
[2008] Ch 1, [2007] 3 WLR 437, Times 28-May-2007, [2007] EWCA Civ 493, [2007] 3 All ER 1034
Bailii
Supreme Court Act 1981 72(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Rank Film Distributors v Video Information Centre HL 1-Mar-1981
The plaintiffs claimed large-scale copyright infringement, and obtained Anton Pillar orders. The House considered the existence of the privilege against self-incrimination where the Anton Piller type of order has been made. The Court of Appeal had . .
Cited – Saunders v The United Kingdom ECHR 17-Dec-1996
(Grand Chamber) The subsequent use against a defendant in a prosecution, of evidence which had been obtained under compulsion in company insolvency procedures was a convention breach of Art 6. Although not specifically mentioned in Article 6 of the . .
Cited – Kay and Another v London Borough of Lambeth and others; Leeds City Council v Price and others and others HL 8-Mar-2006
In each case the local authority sought to recover possession of its own land. In the Lambeth case, they asserted this right as against an overstaying former tenant, and in the Leeds case as against gypsies. In each case the occupiers said that the . .
Cited – O Ltd v Z ChD 23-Feb-2005
The court was asked whether a search under a court order of a former employee’s computer for materials alleged to have been taken, which discovered material possession of which itself was a crime, infringed the defendant’s rights against self . .
Cited – Anton Piller v Manufacturing Processes Ltd CA 8-Dec-1975
Civil Search Orders possible
The plaintiff manufactured and supplied through the defendants, its English agents, computer components. It had reason to suspect that the defendant was disclosing its trade secrets to competitors. The court considered the effect of a civil search . .
Cited – Rex v Warwickshall 1785
The defendant, Jane Warwickshall had confessed to receiving stolen property. Because of that confession, the property was found in her lodgings concealed in the sackings of her bed.
Held: The court refused to admit her confession because it . .
Cited – Regina v Sang HL 25-Jul-1979
The defendant appealed against an unsuccessful application to exclude evidence where it was claimed there had been incitement by an agent provocateur.
Held: The appeal failed. There is no defence of entrapment in English law. All evidence . .
Cited – A T and T Istel Ltd v Tully HL 9-Sep-1992
The second plaintff had agreed to supply computer systems to a health authority. New owners of the company discovered allegations that the contract had been operated fraudulently. An order had been obtained for production of documents, but the order . .
Cited – Khan v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-May-2000
Evidence was acknowledged to have been obtained unlawfully and in breach of another article of the Convention. The police had installed covert listening devices on private property without the knowledge or consent of the owner. UK national law did . .
Cited – Regina v Hertfordshire County Council, ex parte Green Environmental Industries Ltd and Another HL 17-Feb-2000
A notice was given to the holder of a waste disposal licence to require certain information to be provided on pain of prosecution. The provision of such information could also then be evidence against the provider of the commission of a criminal . .
Cited – Stott (Procurator Fiscal, Dunfermline) and Another v Brown PC 5-Dec-2000
The system under which the registered keeper of a vehicle was obliged to identify herself as the driver, and such admission was to be used subsequently as evidence against her on a charge of driving with excess alcohol, was not a breach of her right . .
Cited – Attorney-General’s Reference (No 7 of 2000) CACD 29-Mar-2001
The defendant had been convicted of offences under the Insolvency Act. Evidence of his gambling was found in cheque stubs, bank statements, returned cheques and a betting file containing loose gambling statements by way of computer print outs . .
Cited – Bell Cablemedia Plc etc v Simmonds CA 29-Apr-1997
Any person who is legitimately in premises may refer any material found there to the police. . .
Cited – Regina v Kearns CACD 22-Mar-2002
The defendant had failed to account for the disappearance of a substantial part of his estate to the official receiver following his bankruptcy. He appealed his conviction for failing to provide an account, saying that the requirement to provide . .
Cited – Chappell v The United Kingdom ECHR 30-Mar-1989
The plaintiff in civil proceedings had arranged with the police that, if (as happened) the police obtained a search warrant and the claimant obtained an Anton Piller order, they should be executed simultaneously. The court had been informed of the . .
Cited – Tate Access Floors Inc v Boswell 1991
Senior employees were suspected of misappropriating the company’s funds.
Held: The authorities did not establish the wide proposition that where a defendant agrees to act as a fiduciary, he impliedly contracts not to raise the claim to the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property, Litigation Practice
Leading Case
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.252458