There was no reasonable excuse for a suspect not answering SFO questions after he had been charged.
Independent 24-Jun-1994
Criminal Justice Act 1987 2(13)
England and Wales
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.87327
A committal of a defendant for sentence after the magistrates have accepted jurisdiction to hear a cases, should normally be only after new material comes to light.
Times 03-Mar-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.87252
Abuse of process rules apply in same way whether an offence was substantive or administrative.
Times 17-Apr-1995
England and Wales
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.88087
Following a police raid leading to the discovery of a cache of arms, the police took a statement from an anonymous witness as to the delivery of the arms to the house (though the precise date of delivery was withheld). The investigating judge heard evidence satisfying her that the witness’s desire for anonymity was based on well-founded fear. She heard and saw the witness’s evidence direct, and then decided which answers could be relayed, with voice distortion, to the prosecutor and the applicant’s counsel who were in another room. Defence counsel were able to submit questions to the witness. The applicant complained inter alia that the withholding of the precise date made it impossible to show an alibi. The Strasbourg Court was satisfied with the procedures. It was satisfied that, in contrast with Van Mechelen, the evidence was not based to a decisive extent on the anonymous witness.
Held: ‘In the Court’s view, in assessing whether the procedures involved in the questioning of the anonymous witness were sufficient to counterbalance the difficulties caused to the defence due weight must be given to the above conclusion that the anonymous testimony was not in any respect decisive for the conviction of the applicant. The defence was thus handicapped to a much lesser degree.’
43149/98, [2000] ECHR 706
Human Rights
Cited – Regina v Davis HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant had been tried for the murder of two men by shooting them at a party. He was identified as the murderer by three witnesses who had been permitted to give evidence anonymously, from behind screens, because they had refused, out of fear, . .
Cited – Horncastle and Others, Regina v SC 9-Dec-2009
Each defendant said they had not received a fair trial in that the court had admitted written evidence of a witness he had not been allowed to challenge. The witnesses had been victims, two of whom had died before trial. It was suggested that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.270126
Protection of defendant may be ‘good and sufficient cause’ to extend custody.
Gazette 08-Jul-1992
Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 22
England and Wales
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.87225
An Extradition Court cannot request evidence from applicant country.
Watkins LJ, Ognall J
Independent 03-Mar-1993, [1993] EWHC Admin 6, [1993] 1 WLR 1294
England and Wales
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.87325
The defendant had written to the court to request an adjournment. The case proceeded in his absence.
Held: Justices have a broad discretion on the re-opening case after a conviction had been entered in the Defendant’s absence. The defendant retained a right of appeal under s108. The absence was the defendant’s entire responsibility. The court had shown respect for the convenience of witnesses, and a desire to show that the defendant had tested the limits of the court’s patience.
Henry LJ
Times 16-Jul-1996, (1996) 160 JP 613
Magistrates Courts Act 1980 142
England and Wales
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.87435
‘This appeal raises issues of principle as to the scope of living and legal expenditure which should be permitted by restraint orders granted pursuant to s. 41 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ‘
Lord Justice Popplewell
[2020] EWCA Crim 1579
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 41(4)
England and Wales
Appeal from – Luckhurst, Regina v SC 20-Jul-2022
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.656604
Application to move for judicial review of a decision by Deputy District Judge Cartwright refusing a defendant’s costs order in favour of the claimant, RE Williams and Sons (Wholesale) Limited. It is contended that the judge had no basis for refusing Williams’ costs following a ruling that the continuation of criminal proceedings amounted to an abuse of process.
Held: No basis had been shown for refusal of an order for costs, and the appeal succeeded.
Moses LJ, Blake J
[2008] EWHC 2585 (Admin)
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.277540
The claimant sought to appeal against a stand-alone anti-social behaviour order made against him by magistrates. The court considered whether an appeal could be made.
Scott-Baker LK, Aikens J
[2008] EWHC 2623 (Admin)
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 1(1)
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.277361
The claimant was held by the US. He claimed he had been tortured by them, and sought release of dicuments which allow him to present his case. The respondent sought to prevent disclosure using Public Interest Immunity (PII) certificates.
Held: The claimant had been taken unlawfully. The documents were essential to him in defending himself before the US convening commission. There was no good reason why the documents were not made available to the claimant by the US. The US now produced statements made by the defendant after being held for two years incommunicado by them and produced only after alleged torture. The senior US prosecutor had resigned because he had not been allowed to disclose exculpatory material, including sleep deprivation treatment. The US had then discharged all charges against the claimant. There remained however serious allegations of misconduct against a friendly power. The matter should be adjourned pending a further hearing. Despite promises that only certain information would be redacted, heavy unexplained redactions remained.
Thomas LJ, Lloyd Jones J
[2008] EWHC 2519 (Admin)
England and Wales
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 1) Admn 21-Aug-2008
The claimant had been detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay suspected of terrorist involvement. He sought to support his defence documents from the respondent which showed that the evidence to be relied on in the US courts had been obtained by . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) Admn 29-Aug-2008
The claimant sought release of documents so that he could defend himself in a tribunal in the US. He said the documents would support his assertion that he had been subject to extraordinary rendition and had ‘disappeared’ for two years. Redactions . .
Cited – Rustenberg Platinum Mines v Pan American Airways 1977
A party should be given advance notice of an intention to make serious allegations of wilful misconduct. . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 4) Admn 4-Feb-2009
In an earlier judgment, redactions had been made relating to reports by the US government of its treatment of the claimant when held by them at Guantanamo bay. The claimant said he had been tortured and sought the documents to support his defence of . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 5) Admn 16-Oct-2009
The claimant sought to assert that he had been tortured whilst held by the US Authorities. He sought publication of an unredacted report supplied by the US security services to the respondent. The respondent argued that the full publication was . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (60 Admn 19-Nov-2009
The respondent had over time refused to allow publication of parts of a document disclosed to him by US security services. The court had previously delivered redacted judgments, and now asked whether and to what extent the redacted parts should be . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs CA 10-Feb-2010
The claimant had sought discovery and publication of materials supplied to the defendant by US security services which, he said, would support his allegations that he had been tortured by the US and that this had been known to the defendant.
See Also – Binyan Mohamed, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs CA 26-Feb-2010
The claimant had sought public disclosure of documents supplied to the defendant by US security services which might support his claim that he had been tortured by the US, and that the defendant knew of it. The draft judgment was to be handed down . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.277295
The defendant appealed against a refusal of a stay of the proceedings as an abuse, and the decision to admit certaiin evidence, and a refusal to issue a witness summons against an alleged informant. The defendant had been subject to an undercover investigation, which, he said officers had acted as agent provocateurs.
Held: In assessing whether evidence is ‘likely to be material evidence’ within the meaning of s.2(1) of the 1965 Act, likelihood involves a real possibility, not necessarily a probability.
Henry LJ, Bracewell, Richards JJ
[2000] EWCA Crim 48
Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 35(1), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 78, Criminal Procedure (Attendance of Witnesses) Act 1965 2
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Reading Justices ex parte Berkshire County Council QBD 5-May-1995
Disclosure by third parties in criminal proceedings was not affected by other new rule. Simon Brown LJ summarised the tests for materiality for requiring production of dicuments from third parties by magistrates: ‘The central principles . . . are as . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.158698
The test of whether a defendant’s common law right to a fair trial had been damaged by pre-trial publicity was similar to the test under the Convention, and also where there was any plea of oppression. The substantial difference is that no balancing exercise was to be carried out under the Convention test. The right to a fair trial is absolute, and unqualified. It was not to be subordinated to the public interest in the detection and suppression of crime. The Court need not look only at the effect on the jurors, but could also allow for the part which the judge would play. A question of Scottish criminal law and procedure falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court of Justiciary. Lord Hoffmann said: ‘events before the trial may create the conditions for an unfair determination of the charge. For example, an accused who is convicted on evidence obtained from him by torture has not had a fair trial. But the breach of Article 6(1) lies not in the use of torture (which is, separately, a breach of Article 3) but in the reception of the evidence by the court for the purposes of determining the charge. If the evidence had been rejected, there would still have been a breach of Article 3 but no breach of Article 6(1).’
Lord Hoffmann
Times 06-Dec-2000, DRA Nos 1 and 2 of 2000, [2003] 1 AC 641, 2001 SLT 37, [2000] UKHL D1, 2002 SC (PC) 89, 2000 GWD 40-1487, 9 BHRC 641, [2001] UKHRR 124, [2001] 2 WLR 779, 2000 SCCR 1044
European Convention on Human Rights 6(1)
Scotland
Appeal from – Her Majesty’s Advocate v Montgomery and Coulter HCJ 14-Sep-1999
. .
Cited – Regina v Connor and another; Regina v Mirza HL 22-Jan-2004
Extension of Inquiries into Jury Room Activities
The defendants sought an enquiry as to events in the jury rooms on their trials. They said that the secrecy of a jury’s deliberations did not fit the human right to a fair trial. In one case, it was said that jurors believed that the defendant’s use . .
Cited – Regina on the Application of Mahfouz v The Professional Conduct Committee of the General Medical Council CA 5-Mar-2004
The doctor requested members of the disciplinary tribunal to recuse themselves when, after the first day of the hearing they saw prejudicial material in newspapers which material was not in evidence. They had further declined to allow an adjournment . .
Cited – Gary Follen v Her Majesty’s Advocate PC 8-Mar-2001
PC High Court of Justiciary (Scotland) The defendant said that a trial under the section infringed his right to a fair trial, because of a ten month delay by the prosecutor. On arrest he had been recalled to . .
Cited – Ramda, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 27-Jun-2002
The Government of France sought the extradition of Ramda wanted by them for trial in connection with a series of terrorist bombings in France. The applicant resisted extradition to France on the ground that the evidence which would be relied on . .
Cited – A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, Mahmoud Abu Rideh Jamal Ajouaou v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 11-Aug-2004
The claimants had each been detained without trial for more than two years, being held as suspected terrorists. They were free leave to return to their own countries, but they feared for their lives if returned. They complained that the evidence . .
Cited – A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No 2) HL 8-Dec-2005
Evidence from 3rd Party Torture Inadmissible
The applicants had been detained following the issue of certificates issued by the respondent that they posed a terrorist threat. They challenged the decisions of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission saying that evidence underlying the . .
Cited – Regina v Abu Hamza CACD 28-Nov-2006
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 . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 1999: Application By the British Broadcasting Corporation To Set Aside or Vary a Reporting Restriction Order HL 17-Jun-2009
An application was made to discharge an anonymity order made in previous criminal proceedings before the House. The defendant was to be retried for rape under the 2003 Act, after an earlier acquittal. The applicant questioned whether such a order . .
Cited – McInnes v Her Majesty’s Advocate SC 10-Feb-2010
The defendant complained that the prosecution had not disclosed the fact that a prosecution witness had convictions, and that had it been disclosed it would have undermined the prosecution. Other statements taken were not disclosed as had later . .
Cited – HM Attorney General v MGN Ltd and Another Admn 29-Jul-2011
The police arrested a man on suspicion of the murder of a young woman. He was later released and exonerated, and a second man arrested and later convicted. Whilst the first was in custody the two defendant newspapers, the Daily Mirror and the Sun . .
Cited – McGowan (Procurator Fiscal) v B SC 23-Nov-2011
The appellant complained that after arrest, though he had been advised of his right to legal advice, and had declined the offer, it was still wrong to have his subsequent interview relied upon at his trial.
Held: It was not incompatible with . .
Cited – Regina v Kansal (2) HL 29-Nov-2001
The prosecutor had lead and relied at trial on evidence obtained by compulsory questioning under the 1986 Act.
Held: In doing so the prosecutor was acting to give effect to section 433.
The decision in Lambert to disallow retrospective . .
Cited – HM Attorney General v Yaxley-Lennon QBD 9-Jul-2019
Application by Her Majesty’s Attorney General for an order committing the respondent to prison for contempt of court. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.163266
Counsel for the defence, as well as counsel for the prosecution have a duty to assist the judge with the law in his summing up. It was no longer appropriate, if it ever had been, to note an error say nothing, and later to appeal. The duty was shared.
Times 12-Jan-2001
England and Wales
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.87118
Counsel for the prosecution had a duty to consider and advise the court in respect of applications regarding non-reporting orders, in particular as to whether excess adverse publicity might operate to make a trial unfair and a conviction unsafe.
Times 21-May-1999
Contempt of Court Act 1981 4(2)
England and Wales
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.80419
Prosecution appeal against a terminating ruling under section 58 of the Criminal Justice Act 2004
Latam LJ VP CACD, Grigson, MacDuff JJ
[2008] Lloyd’s Rep FC 570, [2009] Crim LR 45, [2008] EWCA Crim 1868
England and Wales
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.276948
Appeal against refusal of certificate of inadequacy.
Held: On an application by the defendant under section 17, the High Court should survey the present value of all the defendant’s property, whether acquired before or after the making of the confiscation order.
[2004] EWCA Civ 1800
Criminal Justice Act 1988 83(1)
England and Wales
Cited – Peacock, Re SC 22-Feb-2012
The defendant had been convicted of drugs offences, and sentenced under the 1994 Act. The gains he had made exceeded his then assets. Later he acquired further property honestly, and the Court now considered whether those assets could be taken to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.276327
The claimant sought release of documents so that he could defend himself in a tribunal in the US. He said the documents would support his assertion that he had been subject to extraordinary rendition and had ‘disappeared’ for two years. Redactions were requested on the basis of British and US security considerations and could not be used before the US Convening Authority. The respondent had served a certificate claimining Public Interest Immunity, saying that release would damage intelligence relations with the US, and the US authorities said that the purposes stated were being satisfied by the US system.
Held: Time should be allowed to the respondent to furnish amended PII certificates addressing the issues raised more explicitly.
Thomas J, Lloyd Jones J
[2008] EWHC 2100 (Admin)
England and Wales
See also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 1) Admn 21-Aug-2008
The claimant had been detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay suspected of terrorist involvement. He sought to support his defence documents from the respondent which showed that the evidence to be relied on in the US courts had been obtained by . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police Ex Parte Wiley; Other Similar HL 14-Jul-1994
Statements made to the police to support a complaint against the police, were not part of the class of statements which could attract public interest immunity, and were therefore liable to disclosure.
Lord Woolf said: ‘The recognition of a new . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Admn 22-Oct-2008
The claimant was held by the US. He claimed he had been tortured by them, and sought release of dicuments which allow him to present his case. The respondent sought to prevent disclosure using Public Interest Immunity (PII) certificates.
Held: . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 4) Admn 4-Feb-2009
In an earlier judgment, redactions had been made relating to reports by the US government of its treatment of the claimant when held by them at Guantanamo bay. The claimant said he had been tortured and sought the documents to support his defence of . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 5) Admn 16-Oct-2009
The claimant sought to assert that he had been tortured whilst held by the US Authorities. He sought publication of an unredacted report supplied by the US security services to the respondent. The respondent argued that the full publication was . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (60 Admn 19-Nov-2009
The respondent had over time refused to allow publication of parts of a document disclosed to him by US security services. The court had previously delivered redacted judgments, and now asked whether and to what extent the redacted parts should be . .
See Also – Mohamed, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs CA 10-Feb-2010
The claimant had sought discovery and publication of materials supplied to the defendant by US security services which, he said, would support his allegations that he had been tortured by the US and that this had been known to the defendant.
See also – Binyan Mohamed, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs CA 26-Feb-2010
The claimant had sought public disclosure of documents supplied to the defendant by US security services which might support his claim that he had been tortured by the US, and that the defendant knew of it. The draft judgment was to be handed down . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.276250
The defendant sought to challenge the handling of his trial for disorderly conduct, and of the way the matter had been dealt with in his appeal to the crown court. He particularly complained of papers not being provided to him.
Held: He had exercised his right to appeal to the Crown Court, and had succeeded. The complaints now were not entirely without merit, but had not affected him adversely on the appeal. The application was dismissed.
Pill LJ, Rafferty J
[2008] EWHC 2064 (Admin)
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.276242
Use of restraint orders
[2007] EWCA Crim 3128
England and Wales
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.262967
[2003] EWCA Crim 2847
England and Wales
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.263607
The defendant sought judicial review of a decision by the magistrates to proceed with criminal charges against him in his absence. He suffered confirmed depression. There were several adjournments.
Held: ‘despite the unsatisfactory and indeed devious nature of the letter of 6th May, there were real grounds before the District Judge to indicate that the claimant was a mentally disturbed or unstable person who solicitors have recently withdrawn from the case. Because that was the situation, I am compelled to the view that it was wrong in principle on 9th May to proceed in his absence. ‘
Mr Justice Gibbs
[2005] EWHC 3123 (Admin)
Powers of Criminal Court Sentencing Act 2000 11, Mental Health Act 1983 37
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Ealing Magistrates ex parte Ralph Burgess QBD 3-Jan-1999
The court upheld a Magistrate’s decision to proceed in the absence of a defendant. . .
Cited – Regina v Jones (Anthony William) HL 20-Feb-2002
The defendant absconded, and did not appear for his trial despite several listings. The trial proceeded in his absence entirely. After arrest, he appealed, saying that he had not had a fair trial.
Held: It was not suggested that he did not . .
Cited – Regina v John Victor Hayward, Anthony William Jones, Paul Nigel Purvis CACD 31-Jan-2001
A defendant can forego his right to attend his trial, but he still had the general right to be present, and to have legal representation at the trial. The court’s discretion to proceed in his absence should only be exercised with great care. A trial . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.238176
The defendant challenged the making of civil orders for recovery of what were alleged to be the proceeds of crime. They complained that no specific offence had been made out. The court was asked, as a preliminary issue: ‘Whether a claim for civil recovery can be determined on the basis of conduct in relation to property without the identification of any particular unlawful conduct, this first question to include whether the claimant can sustain a case for civil recovery in circumstances where a respondent has no identifiable lawful income to warrant the lifestyle and purchases of that respondent.’
Held: A claim for civil recovery could not be made solely on the basis that the defendant had no explanation of how he supported his lifestyle. The Director did have to set out the matters which he alleged constituted the particular kind of unlawful activity by which the property had been obtained. However, it was not enough simply to allege that the property was the product of some kind of unlawful conduct.
Sullivan J
[2005] EWHC 3168 (Admin), Times 27-Feb-2006
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 Part 5
England and Wales
Distinguished – Muneka v Customs and Excise Admn 2-Feb-2005
The Albanian claimant was found at Heathrow Airport with a ticket to Tirana and with over andpound;20,000 in cash in his baggage. The district judge held that the cash had been obtained through unlawful conduct and that it was therefore recoverable . .
Cited – Assets Recovery Agency v Olupitan and Another QBD 8-Feb-2007
The claimant was responsible for recovering money under the 2002 Act, and alleged that the first defendant had been engaged in a mortgage fraud.
Held: To succeed in such a claim for recovery the Claimant must prove, ‘on a balance of . .
Cited – Wiese v The UK Border Agency Admn 29-Jun-2012
The claimant challenged a decision to seize a sustantial sum of cash being carried by him whilst passing through London City Airport. In the magistrates court, the claimant had objected to the reliance on parts of a customs officer’s statement which . .
Cited – Olupitan and Another v Director of the Assets Recovery Agency CA 22-Feb-2008
The claimant challenged seizure of cash he was carrying. The court had concluded from its volume that it represented the proceeds of crime.
Held: Carnwath LJ said: ‘I agree with Sullivan J (in Green) that the Director need not allege the . .
Cited – Assets Recovery Agency v Szepietowski and others CA 24-Jul-2007
The defendant had had set aside an interim order for assets recovery. The director appealed against a finding by the court below that he did not have ‘a good arguable case’, justifying an interim recovery order.
Held: The appeal succeeded. On . .
Cited – Wiese v The UK Border Agency Admn 29-Jun-2012
The claimant challenged a decision to seize a sustantial sum of cash being carried by him whilst passing through London City Airport. In the magistrates court, the claimant had objected to the reliance on parts of a customs officer’s statement which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.238418
Challenges to committals of young persons to Crown Court for trial.
[2006] EWHC 95 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.238412
(Commission) The claimants said that the procedures used to secure their convictions amounted to entrapment, and that UK criminal procedures did not give sufficient protection so as to provide a fair trial. One was arrested with heroin, and the other in the company of an undercover officer in possession of forged currency. Each was later convicted. The prosecution had applied for and been granted permission to withhold evidence.
Held: The court must examine the procedures in each case to make sure the defendants’ rights were protected. In a criminal system, it was essential that an adversarial equality of arms between prosecution and defence must be maintained. Whether it was necessary for particular items to be witheld was for the national courts to determine, and the instant court could only look at the procedure followed. Here the undisclosed evidence may have related to an undisclosed issue of fact relevant to the case was decided by the judge. The procedure failed to allow the defence the adversial opportunity to test evidence, and was unfair, and infringed the defendants’ rights. However the failures in these circumstances were not sufficient to justify an award of damages or otherwise.
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1 ; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient ; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings
Times 29-Jul-2003, 40461/98, 39647/98, [2003] ECHR 381, [2011] ECHR 2267
European Convention on Human Rights A-1
Human Rights
Cited – Jasper v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
Grand Chamber – The defendants had been convicted after the prosecution had withheld evidence from them and from the judge under public interest immunity certificates. They complained that they had not had fair trials.
Held: The right was . .
Cited – Regina v H; Regina v C CACD 16-Oct-2003
The defendants were charged with serious drugs offences. The prosecutor had applied for public interest immunity certificates. The judge had required the appointment of independent counsel. The prosecutor appealed.
Held: The same district . .
Cited – Regina v H; Regina v C HL 5-Feb-2004
Use of Special Counsel as Last Resort Only
The accused faced charges of conspiring to supply Class A drugs. The prosecution had sought public interest immunity certificates. Special counsel had been appointed by the court to represent the defendants’ interests at the applications.
Commission opinion – Edwards and Lewis v United Kingdom ECHR 27-Oct-2004
E had been convicted of possession of heroin with intent to supply, and L of possession of counterfeit currency. In each case public interest certificates had been obtained to withold evidence from them. The judge had refused requests to exclude . .
Cited – Greenfield, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Feb-2005
The appellant had been charged with and disciplined for a prison offence. He was refused legal assistance at his hearing, and it was accepted that the proceedings involved the determination of a criminal charge within the meaning of article 6 of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.185141
Sir Brian Leveson P
[2019] EW Misc 1 (CrownC)
England and Wales
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.633108
Moore-Bick LJ, Collins J, Judge Cooke
[2012] EWCA Crim 2158, [2013] 1 WLR 1710, [2013] 2 Cr App R (S) 26, (2013) 177 JP 137, [2012] WLR(D) 355, [2013] Crim LR 352
England and Wales
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.466294
The solicitors had been paid funds on account of their fees in defending the client. By the time a freezing order was made under the 2002 Act in respect of his assets, the firm’s fees exceeded the amount held. The court was asked what was to happen to the funds. The solicitors had not yet delivered an account. The court had said it had no jurisdiction to alter the order to allow the fees to be used in this way. The solicitors said that the client no longer had any beneficial interest in the money.
Held: The solicitors were free to deliver an account and to apply the fees in payment of it.
Toulson LJ said: ‘the andpound;5000 was paid and received for a single identified purpose, namely payment of Irwin Mitchell’s fees as and when they had earned them. If they had used the fund for any other purpose, without Mr Allad’s informed consent, they would have committed a breach of trust. And until they had earned that level of fees, they were bound to hold the money on Mr Allad’s behalf. Once they had earned that amount in fees, the value of Mr Allad’s interest in the fund was reduced to nil. In order to protect a client from a solicitor transferring funds from the solicitor’s client account to office account in payment of his fees when such fees have not been properly incurred, the Solicitors Account Rules prescribe the steps which the solicitor must take. Those provisions govern the means of exercise of the solicitors’ contractual right to payment from the fund, which arose from the agreement and the work done. The bill, if properly served, reflects the solicitors’ entitlement to payment by virtue of the work done. Once they were entitled to payment of that sum, Mr Allad’s ‘interest’ in the relevant account became literally nominal; that is to say, the account bore his name, but he no longer had any interest of substance in it. It is important to distinguish between substance and form.’
The RCPO’s argument as to how a firm might aid and abet a criminal were not to the point. The sum requested and prospective bill were proper.
Toulson LJ, Jack J
[2008] EWCA Crim 1741, [2009] 3 All ER 530, [2009] 1 Cr App R 284, [2009] 1 WLR 1079
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 40 41, Solicitors Account Rules 1998 19(2)
England and Wales
Cited – Loescher v Dean ChD 1950
The plaintiff sought specific performance, and obtained an order that the defendant vendor should convey the property to him on the payment for it. The plaintiff paid the sum to the defendant’s solicitors, who paid it into their client account. The . .
Cited – The Serious Fraud Office v Lexi Holdings Plc CACD 10-Jul-2008
Application was made for the variation of a restraint order made under the 2002 Act to enable payment to be made to a judgment creditor in advance of any confiscation order being made, or indeed before any criminal charges had even been preferred. . .
Cited – HM Customs and Excise v Barclays Bank Plc HL 21-Jun-2006
The claimant had served an asset freezing order on the bank in respect of one of its customers. The bank paid out on a cheque inadvertently as to the order. The Commissioners claimed against the bank in negligence. The bank denied any duty of care. . .
Cited – Twinsectra Ltd v Yardley and Others HL 21-Mar-2002
Solicitors acted in a loan, giving an undertaking as to its application. In breach of that undertaking they released it to the borrower. The appellants appealed a finding of liability as contributors to the breach.
Held: ‘Money in a . .
Cited – Re K (Restraint Order) 1990
An order under the Act prohibited K from disposing of his assets, including a deposit account with the bank. K had an overdraft facility secured against the deposit account. The bank sought to set off the overdraft against the sums held on deposit. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.271268
Whether the Authority had standing to continue prosecutions for breaches of licensing conditions.
[2008] EWHC 1762 (Admin)
Private Security Industry Act 2001
England and Wales
Cited – Rollins, Regina v CACD 9-Oct-2009
The court was asked whether the Financial Services Authority had itself the power to prosecute offences under the 2002 Act. The defence said that the FSA’s powers were limited to offences under the 2000 Act. The FSA relied on its common law power to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.271232
Appeal against conviction after discovering that a juror had spoken with an officer in the case outside the courtroom.
[2007] EWHC 3168 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.271184
The claimant sought judicial review of a decision of the Home Secretary, to refuse his application for compensation. He had first been convicted and imprisoned and then had his conviction quashed. The respondent did not think that the conviction was quashed for some new fact discovered demonstrating innocence. The claimant victim had been shown later to have lied repeatedly on related matters and to the extent that her evidence was unreliable.
Held: The appeal failed. The claimant had not brought the case within the necessary conditions for a miscarriage of justice.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers CJ
[2007] EWHC 1855 (Admin)
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Makanjuola CACD 17-May-1995
Guidance was given on the directions to be given to the jury where a co-accused speaks for prosecution as a witness and in sexual assault cases. The full corroboration warning is not now needed; the Judge may use his own discretion, and may give a . .
Cited – Regina (Murphy) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Regina (Brannan) v Same Admn 10-Feb-2005
The appellants sought compensation for their imprisonment having been (Mr Brannan’s father) wrongly convicted. They sought to bring in new evidence. The first appellant and the second appellant’s father had been convicted of murder. The second . .
Cited – Mullen, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 29-Apr-2004
The claimant had been imprisoned, but his conviction was later overturned. He had been a victim of a gross abuse of executive power. The British authorities had acted in breach of international law and had been guilty of ‘a blatant and extremely . .
Cited – Siddall, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice Admn 16-Mar-2009
The claimant had been imprisoned then released after his conviction for sexual assaults. He appealed against rejection of his claim for compensation. The criterion for compensation was demonstrating that something had ‘gone seriously wrong in the . .
Cited – Adams, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice SC 11-May-2011
The three claimants had each been convicted of murders and served time. Their convictions had been reversed eventually, and they now appealed against the refusal of compensation for imprisonment, saying that there had been a miscarriage of justice. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2022; Ref: scu.271164
The defendant appealed his conviction for murder, making new submissions as to identification.
Held: Lord Carswell, giving the judgment of the Board, declined to deal in detail with both submissions upon suggested flaws in the summing up and arguments relating to the quality of an identification, saying of the first at that: ‘Many of the points made at some length . . were simply not issues which should be brought before the Privy Council in a criminal appeal. It is well established that such issues should be confined to points of law of sufficient significance or matters which tend to show that a serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred.’
Of the second he said: ‘Their Lordships do not propose to examine the evidence about the lighting, since they will not act as a second court of appeal and their function is to satisfy themselves that there has been no serious miscarriage of justice in basing a conviction on the evidence given in the case.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
[2008] UKPC 34
Commonwealth
Cited – Ackerley v HM Attorney General of The Isle of Man (Isle of Man) PC 31-Jul-2013
The appellant challenged his conviction for sexual assault, saying that the court had not made sufficient allowance for his autism, and in particular that his confession was actually evidence of echolalia, the repetition of what had been said to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.270796
In view of the new categories of people may be called to jury service, the court gave amended guidelines on principles allowing excusal. The new categories might have greater responsibilities by way of public service commitments. Applications for excusal must be dealt with with common sense. Directions were also given for situations arising where jurors found some direct connection with the case or where personal difficulties arose.
Lord Woolf LCJ
Times 24-Mar-2005
England and Wales
Replaced – Practice Direction (Jury Service: Excusal) 1988
. .
Amended – Practice Direction (Criminal Proceedings: Consolidation) CACD 8-Jul-2002
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.223831
A new schedule of forms to be used in all criminal cases after April 5 when the new rules come in was provided. Most forms remained unaltered, and where unaltered, existing forms could continue to be used.
Lord Woolf LCJ
Times 28-Mar-2005
England and Wales
Cited – Practice Direction (Criminal Proceedings: Consolidation) CACD 8-Jul-2002
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.223963
The House considered what was the appropriate test for allowing a conviction to stand despite the finding of an irregularity in the trial.
Held: The House must be satisfied that there was ‘a situation a reasonable jury, after being properly directed, would, on the evidence properly admissible, without doubt convict.’ Assuming the wrong direction on law or the irregularity had not occurred and the trial had been free from legal error, would the only reasonable and proper verdict have been one of guilty?
Viscount Simon LC: ‘the provision that the Court of Criminal Appeal may dismiss the appeal if they consider that no substantial miscarriage of justice has actually occurred in convicting the accused assumes a situation where a reasonable jury, after being properly directed, would on the evidence, properly admissible, without doubt convict.’ It is a high and exacting test and we have come to be of the view, that it has not been passed in the present case.’ Where the verdict is criticised on the ground that the jury were permitted to consider inadmissible evidence, the question is whether no reasonable jury, after a proper summing up, could have failed to convict the appellant on the rest of the evidence to which no objection could be taken on the ground of its inadmissibility.
The word ‘charged’ means ‘charged in court’, not merely suspected or accused without subsequent prosecution.
Viscount Simon LC
[1944] AC 315, (1945) 30 Crim App R 40
Scotland
Cited – Regina v Pendleton HL 13-Dec-2001
The defendant had appealed his conviction for murder to the Court of Appeal. The 1968 Act required the court to consider whether the conviction was unsafe. New evidence was before the Court of Appeal, but they had rejected the appeal.
Held: . .
Applied – Regina v Associated Octel Ltd HL 14-Nov-1996
The appellants operated a chemical plant. When the plant was shut down for its annual maintenance, an independent firm repaired a tank lining. An employee of that firm was working by electric light. He had to clean the tank with acetone and resin. . .
Cited – Michael Pringle v The Queen PC 27-Jan-2003
PC (Jamaica) The court considered the way in which statistical conclusions drawn from DNA evidence had been presented to the jury. The judge had fallen into the ‘Prosecutor’s Fallacy.’ Also the court had relied . .
Cited – Farnell, Regina (on Application By) v Criminal Cases Review Commission Admn 15-Apr-2003
The appellant sought judicial review of the respondents refusal to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal.
Held: The Commission had misunderstood the way in which the Court of Appeal worked, by anticipating that it would reconsider the . .
Cited – Michael Yearwood v The Queen PC 26-Jun-2001
PC (Grenada) The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder. He claimed a misdirection on provocation.
Held: The judge’s direction had been over elaborate, and gave too much weight to the old law. . .
Cited – Regina v Davis, Rowe, Johnson CACD 17-Jul-2000
The court made a distinction between convictions found on appeal to be unfair, and those found to be unsafe. The prosecution had not disclosed to the defendants that the source of their information was a police informer. The European Court of Human . .
Cited – Kelleher, Regina v CACD 20-Nov-2003
The defendant, out of strong conviction, entered an art gallery and knocked the head from a statue of Margaret Thatcher.
Held: The court examined the breadth of the defence of ‘lawful excuse’ to a charge of criminal damage, and whether a court . .
Cited – Michael Adams and Frederick Lawrence v Regina PC 18-Mar-2002
PC (Jamaica) The defendants appealed against convictions for non-capital murder. Because of delays, the defendants had served almost the full minimum sentence.
Held: The trial judge had heard a plea of no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.182510
A shop store-detective could be said to be a person charged with a duty to investigate offences. Whether he is, is a question of fact in each case, and its determination will turn on the evidence of the terms of the contract between the store detective and his employer and all the circumstances of the case.
Neill LJ
Times 16-Mar-1993, (1994) 98 Cr App R 235
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 67(9)
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Dhorajiwala CACD 9-Jun-2010
The defendant appealed against her conviction for theft. She had been accused of stealing money over many months from the till at the pharmacy where she worked. She said that a confession in interviews conducted by civilian investigators should not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.86106
[2019] EWCA Crim 1283
England and Wales
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.640046
[2019] EWCA Crim 1304
Prosecution of Offences Act 1985
England and Wales
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.640049
Leveson LJ, Sweeney J
[2009] EWHC 752 (Admin), [2009] 2 Cr App R 12, [2009] Crim LR 658
England and Wales
Cited – Skipaway Ltd v The Environment Agency Admn 5-May-2006
The defendant appealed convictions for breaches of its waste management licence, in that waste had been stored outside the edges of the storage bays. The defendant said that the material had not yet been stored, and that it had been deposited by . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.341173
[2008] EWHC 1448 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.270608
The defendant was accused of a minor assault. He complained first about orders made by the district judge, but now complained that he was a barrister who had been instructed by the firm of solicitors which had been the subject of a complaint by the defendant, and that the judge had a conflict of interest. The judge had refused to recuse himself.
Held: Permission to apply for a review was refused. The facts alleged did not even raise any issue of apparent bias.
Ouseley J, Underhill J
[2008] EWHC 1153 (Admin)
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Cambridge Justices ex parte Yardline Limited and Bird 1990
Complaint was made when one of the magistrates sitting in a case was a partner in a law firm which regularly represented one of the parties. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.268716
King J
[2007] EWHC 2553 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.261575
The defendant appealed convictions for breaches of its waste management licence, in that waste had been stored outside the edges of the storage bays. The defendant said that the material had not yet been stored, and that it had been deposited by neighbouring farmers and was to be stored properly during the working day.
Held: The appeal failed. ‘There is a surprisingly common misconception that once an appeal by way of case stated is before the court, the parties may refer to evidence, or at least undisputed evidence, that was before the lower court in addition to that set out in the case.
On an appeal by way of case stated, the Court is confined to the facts set out in the case. It is therefore important that the parties ensure that the case includes all those matters that should be before the Court when deciding the issues raised on the appeal. If a party to an appeal considers that the case produced by the lower court omits relevant matters, he should seek to have the case supplemented either by agreement with the other party and the lower court or by application to this Court under section 28(A)(2) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 for an order for the amendment of the case stated. ‘ The waste was not uncontrolled waste only because its source might be local farms: ‘waste from a farm house is household waste rather than agricultural waste. It makes no sense, for example, for a discarded television from a farm house to be agricultural waste when the same waste from a dwelling house nearby is household waste. Nor does it make sense for a house across the road from a farm to be the source of household waste, yet for the same kind of waste from a house at the edge of a farm to be agricultural waste.’
Newman J, Stanley Burnton J
[2006] EWHC 983 (Admin)
Environmental Protection Act 1990 3396), Control of Pollution Act 1974 30, Supreme Court Act 1981 28A(1)
England and Wales
Cited – Environment Agency v M E Foley Contractors ltd and Another QBD 18-Jan-2002
The defendant company did not accept that it had accepted special waste at its disposal plant. Instead they claimed to have the appropriate licence or exemption.
Held: The burden of establishing acceptance of special waste was not on the . .
Cited – Regina v Rothschild and RH Tomlinson Ltd CACD 2004
It would be a contravention of a waste management licence requiring controlled waste not to be stored at a height greater that specified, to have a mound greater that that height containing an admixture of controlled and uncontrolled waste. . .
Cited – Environment Agency v Armstrong Environmental Services Ltd Admn 22-Mar-2005
. .
Cited – Kay v Burrows HL 1931
The House considered whether premises (the greater part of which was used for the storage of rags awaiting processing, sorting or subsequent despatch) fell within the proviso to s.3(1) which excluded premises ‘primarily occupied and used [for the] . .
Cited – Kay v Burrows HL 1931
The House considered whether premises (the greater part of which was used for the storage of rags awaiting processing, sorting or subsequent despatch) fell within the proviso to s.3(1) which excluded premises ‘primarily occupied and used [for the] . .
Cited – Regina (Holding and Barnes plc) v Secretary of State for Environment Transport and the Regions; Regina (Alconbury Developments Ltd and Others) v Same and Others HL 9-May-2001
Power to call in is administrative in nature
The powers of the Secretary of State to call in a planning application for his decision, and certain other planning powers, were essentially an administrative power, and not a judicial one, and therefore it was not a breach of the applicants’ rights . .
Cited – M v Director Of Public Prosecutions Admn 26-Feb-2009
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.241502
The court considered an application for judicial review of a Crown Court judge’s bail decision: ‘It seems to me that the right approach for this court must be to decide whether the decision of the Crown Court judge was one which falls within the bounds of what can be regarded as a reasonable decision. The court is a court of review but it is review of a decision of a circuit judge to whom Parliament has entrusted the grant of bail. True it is that this was, as it were, a first instance decision. In the case of a bail refused by a Magistrate there is a right of appeal to the Crown Court and the Crown Court judge’s decision is therefore one made on a first appeal. It may well be that this court would be the more reluctant to intervene, because one has not only the question of review but also the question of a second hearing and a decision made on appeal. But there is no good reason why the approach should be any less restrictive where the decision is made at first instance by the circuit judge. It could be said, on the facts of this case, that it was rather equivalent to an appeal in the sense that the Magistrates had granted bail and the judge was refusing it. It may well be that the principles should be the same whether it is strictly made on appeal or whether it is made following a decision of the Magistrates, whether adverse or favourable to the defendant in question.
I do not, myself, think it is necessarily particularly helpful to put glosses on the rationality test as set out under the label of Wednesbury irrationality. As I have said, the test must be: was this a decision which was in the bounds of what could be regarded by this court as reasonable? This court will not interfere unless persuaded that the decision falls outside those bounds.’
Collins J
[2005] EWHC 742 Admin
England and Wales
Cited – Brookes, Regina (on the Application of) v Croydon Crown Court Admn 24-Feb-2006
Application for judicial review of revocation of bail and committal to custody. The defendant had attended the hearing and a previous one. The judge considered that he had failed to attend in other proceedings on two occasions, and revoked bail.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.240389
Davis LJ, Warby, Julian Knowles JJ
[2019] EWCA Crim 1270, [2019] WLR(D) 410
Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 4
England and Wales
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.640048
The defendant appealed his conviction for rape saying that the judge had improperly intervened to prevent him presenting his case properly.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. Although the judge had overstepped the proper boundaries in his examination of the defendant. Nevertheless the conviction was safe.
[2018] WLR(D) 724, [2018] EWCA Crim 2606
England and Wales
Cited – Inns, Regina v CACD 4-May-2018
Singh LJ gave the following helpful summary of fundamental principles as to the extent to which the judge may properly intervene during the examination and cross-examination of witnesses:
‘First, the tribunal of fact in a criminal trial in . .
Cited – Regina v Hulusi and Purvis CACD 1973
The defendant appealed against his conviction, complaining of the judge’s repeated hostile interventions. Lawton LJ said: ‘Time and time again the judge intervened, got an answer and then asked questions on that answer. The impression he must have . .
Cited – Copsey and Another, Regina v CACD 16-Jul-2008
The defendants appealed against conviction saying that the judge had improperly intervened to allow the impression that he did not believe them.
Held: The appeals succeeded. . .
Cited – Zarezadeh, Regina v CACD 1-Mar-2011
The defendant appealed against his conviction saying that the judge’s interventions had rendered his trial unfair. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.630982
Collin J considered the relation between the withholding of bail and human rights law saying: ‘The approach under the Bail Act is entirely consistent with the approach of the European Court as regarded proper under Article 5, namely there must be a grant of bail unless there are good reasons to refuse. The approach therefore really is not should there be bail granted but should custody be opposed, that is, is it necessary for the defendant to be in custody. That is the approach that the court should take. Only if persuaded that it is necessary should a remand in custody take place. It would be necessary if the court decides that whatever conditions can be reasonably imposed in relation to bail there are nevertheless substantial grounds for believing that the defendant will either fail to surrender to custody, commit an offence, interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct justice.’
Collins J
Unreported, 6 October 2005
Bail Act 1976, European Convention on Human Rights 5
England and Wales
Cited – Fergus, Regina (On the Application of) v Southampton Crown Court Admn 4-Dec-2008
The applicant challenged the withdrawal of bail on surrender to the Crown Court.
Held: Applying the case of Thompson, ‘bearing in mind the presumption in favour of granting bail and the high threshold that a defendant should only be remanded . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.375583
Burden of costs in asset revovery case – third party without capacity.
Stanley Burnton LJ
[2008] EWHC 1095 (Admin)
England and Wales
See Also – Serious Organised Crime Agency v Gale and Others QBD 12-May-2009
Mr Gale had been prosecuted twice in foreign courts on allegations of drug trafficking. Each prosecution had failed. The Agency nevertheless sought an order under the 2002 Act alleging that his property was the fruit of criminal activity.
See Also – Gale and Others v Serious Organised Crime Agency CA 7-Jul-2010
The appellants challenged an order made against them under the 2002 Act where Mr Gale had been prosecuted abroad, but not convicted on drug trafficking allegations. The Agency said that no satisfactory explanation had been given of the considerable . .
See Also – Gale and Another v Serious Organised Crime Agency SC 26-Oct-2011
Civil recovery orders had been made against the applicant. He had been accused and acquitted of drug trafficking allegations in Europe, but the judge had been persuaded that he had no proper explanation for the accumulation of his wealth, and had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267718
(British Virgin Islands) The Board considered a case about a failure to comply with the statutory provisions for the empanelling of jurors to try a criminal case. Lord Mance said: ‘The modern tendency is no longer to seek to identify or distinguish between mandatory and directory acts, but the Board’s judgment in the Montreal Street Railway case [1917] AC 170 underlines the need for careful examination of the relevant legislation, to ascertain the purpose of statutory procedures for the empanelling of an array and whether an intention should be attributed to the legislature that non-compliance with such procedures should render a jury trial a nullity, irrespective whether it may have occasioned potential unfairness or prejudice.’
[2008] UKPC 29
Cited – The Montreal Street Railway Company and Another v Roch Normandin PC 23-Jan-1917
(Quebec) . .
Cited – TTM v London Borough of Hackney and Others CA 14-Jan-2011
The claimant had been found to have been wrongfully detained under section 3. He appealed against rejection of his claim for judicial review and for damages. The court found that his detention was lawful until declared otherwise. He argued that the . .
Cited – TTM v London Borough of Hackney and Others CA 14-Jan-2011
The claimant had been found to have been wrongfully detained under section 3. He appealed against rejection of his claim for judicial review and for damages. The court found that his detention was lawful until declared otherwise. He argued that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267721
The defendant appealed refusal of bail after being accused of an offence of prison mutiny. He had previously, whilst serving his sentence, been granted unconditional, but technical, bail. This had been revoked when the date for his release came around. The CPS application was late, and the defendant had not been given opportunity to make representations as to the weakness of the case against him.
Held: In these exceptional circumstances permission to bring judicial review should be allowed. The court treated this hearing as the substantive applications, and, unable itself to determine properly whether bail should be granted, the matter was remitted to the crown court to be heard as soon as possible.
Collins J
[2008] EWHC 1000 (Admin)
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267574
The court considered issues arising on the making of hospital orders by criminal courts: ‘ the intention of the section is that someone made the subject of a hospital order should take up a place at a hospital or other unit specified in the court order within 28 days of the order. The broad issue that arises for consideration in this case is the legal status of someone who a court intends should be received into a particular hospital or unit pursuant to such an order within 28 days of the order, but in fact is not received into that hospital or unit until after the expiration of that period with no additional authority by the court having been given. Does that result in the court’s order becoming frustrated and of no further effect such that the continued detention of the patient thereafter is unlawful? Or does the order still have effect and the continued detention fall to be treated as being authorised by the order of the court?’
Foskett J
[2008] EWHC 986 (Admin), [2008] MHLR 139, [2008] LS Law Medical 359
England and Wales
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267584
The Secretary of state had sought to register an organisation as a terrorist organisation (PMOI). The organisation had successfully appealed to the Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission (POAC). The secretary now renewed his application for leave to appeal. The PMO had previously been involved in violence but said that it had abandoned violence several years ago, and now condemned it.
Held: It was indeed difficult to be clear as to just what was required to prove that an organisation was ‘otherwise engaged in terrorism’, however ‘The question of whether an organisation is concerned in terrorism is essentially a question of fact. Justification of significant interference with human rights is in issue. We agree with POAC that the appropriate course was to conduct an intense and detailed scrutiny of both open and closed material in order to decide whether this amounted to reasonable grounds for the belief that PMOI was concerned in terrorism.’
The court supported POACs conclusion that ‘there is no evidence that the PMOI has at any time since 2003 sought to re-create any form of structure that was capable of carrying out or supporting terrorist acts. There is no evidence of any attempt to ‘prepare’ for terrorism. There is no evidence of any encouragement to others to commit acts of terrorism. Nor is there any material that affords any grounds for a belief that the PMOI was ‘otherwise concerned in terrorism’ at the time of the decision in September 2006. In relation to the period after May 2003, this cannot properly be described as ‘mere inactivity’ as suggested by the Secretary of State in his Decision Letter. The material showed that the entire military apparatus no longer existed whether in Iraq, Iran or elsewhere and there had been no attempt by the PMOI to re-establish it.’ Leave to appeal was refused.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers LCJ, Lord Justice Laws and Lady Justice Arden
[2008] EWCA Civ 443
Terrorism Act (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2001, Terrorism Act 2000 1
England and Wales
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267552
The defendant complained that when making a very substantial costs order against him, he had not been give appropriate opportunity to make representations.
Held: The decision was set aside and remitted to a different judge.
[2008] EWHC 947 (Admin)
Criminal Defence Service (Recovery of Defence Costs Orders) Regulations 2001
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267407
Appeal against conviction – challenge to sufficiency of identification evidence.
[2008] EWHC 771 (Admin)
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.267406
The Commission renewed its application for a review of a decision on their request for judicial assistance in obtaining evidence from the firm. The firm had produced confidential documents to the court, and not disclosed to the Commission.
Held: The decision of the defendant court was based on an unsound appraisal of the law, and the matter would be remitted for reconsideration. The parties had agreed a way forward and it ws unclear why the court had not gone long with it.
[2008] EWHC 524 (Admin)
Crime (International Co-Operation) Act 2003, European Connevtion on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Cited – Niemietz v Germany ECHR 16-Dec-1992
A lawyer complained that a search of his offices was an interference with his private life.
Held: In construing the term ‘private life’, ‘it would be too restrictive to limit the notion of an ‘inner circle’ in which the individual may live his . .
Cited – Regina v Southampton Crown Court ex parte J and P 21-Dec-1992
A special material warrant was quashed, partly because it was too widely drawn. It was suspected that there had been thefts from the solicitor’s firms client account. Watkins LJ discussed the need for a judge to give reasons for a decision under . .
Cited – Z v Finland ECHR 25-Feb-1997
A defendant had appealed against his conviction for manslaughter and related offences by deliberately subjecting women to the risk of being infected by him with HIV virus. The applicant, Z, had been married to the defendant, and infected by him with . .
Cited – Funke v France ECHR 25-Feb-1993
M. Funke successfully challenged his conviction for failing to provide documents which the customs authorities had demanded of him, on the grounds that his rights under Article 6 had been infringed: ‘The Court notes that the customs secured Mr. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266961
[2008] EWCA Crim 758
England and Wales
Cited – O’Dowd v Regina CACD 12-May-2009
The defendant appealed against his conviction for serious sexual offences. The trial was very lengthy after the prosecution introduced bad character evidence from other allegations from some 17 years or more before. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266617
(Trinidad and Tobago) The defendant’s appeal against conviction had succeeded on the basis of apparent bias in the tribunal. He now appealed the order remitting the case to be reheard, saying that a fair trial was no longer possible.
Held: The appeal failed. Provided that unfairness did not affect the way in which the prosecution had arisen or the facts on which it was based or the ability now to hold fair trial, there was no abuse in remitting the case.
‘It will readily be seen that the factor common to all these cases, indeed the central consideration underlying the entire principle, is that the various situations in question all involved the defendant standing trial when, but for an abuse of executive power, he would never have been before the court at all. In the wrongful extradition cases the defendant ought properly not to have been within the jurisdiction; only a violation of the rule of law had brought him here. Similarly, in the entrapment cases, the defendant only committed the offence because the enforcement officer wrongly incited him to do so. True, in both situations, a fair trial could take place, but, given that there should have been no trial at all, the imperative consideration became the vindication of the rule of law.’
Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
Times 11-Apr-2008, [2008] UKPC 24
Cited – Sharma v Brown-Antoine, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions and others PC 30-Nov-2006
(Trinidad and Tobago) Complaint was made as to a decision to begin professional discliplinary proceedings against a senior member of the judiciary.
Held: Although a decision to prosecute was in principle susceptible to judicial review on the . .
Cited – Regina v Looseley (orse Loosely); Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 2000 HL 25-Oct-2001
Police Entrapment is no defence to Criminal Act
The defendant complained of his conviction for supplying controlled drugs, saying that the undercover police officer had requested him to make the supply.
Held: It was an abuse of process for the police to go so far as to incite a crime.
Cited – Regina v Horseferry Road Magistrates’ Court, ex Parte Bennett (No 1) HL 24-Jun-1993
The defendant had been brought to the UK in a manner which was in breach of extradition law. He had, in effect, been kidnapped by the authorities.
Held: The High Court may look at how an accused person was brought within the jurisdiction when . .
Cited – Regina v Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court ex parte Fiona Watts Admn 8-Feb-1999
The defendant sought to have dismissed as an abuse of proces charges against her that as an officer of Customs and Excise prosecuting the now private prosecutor, she had committed various offences.
Held: The magistrate was vested with . .
Cited – Alexander Benedetto v The Queen (No and William Labrador v The Queen (No 2) PC 20-Oct-2003
PC British Virgin Islands . .
Cited – Maxwell, Regina v SC 20-Jul-2011
The defendant had had his conviction for murder set aside after a finding of gross prosecutorial misconduct by the police. The Court was now asked as to the propriety of the order for a retrial. The police involved in the case had misled the CPS, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266535
[2008] EWHC 601 (Admin)
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266502
[2008] EWHC 510 (Admin)
Football Spectators Act 1989 14A
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266241
Silber J
[2008] EWHC 507 (Admin)
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266233
The defendants faced charges of conspiracy to fix and maintain the prices of prescription drugs.
Held: An indictment making such allegations must identify and particularise the aggravating acts which took such a conspiracy to the level of a criminal conspiracy. It was incorrect to assume that ‘price fixing, when carried out in circumstances of secretive and deceptive behaviour, is dishonest in itself and a sufficient basis for conspiracy to defraud.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2008] UKHL 17, Times 01-Jan-2009, [2009] 2 All ER 738, [2009] 1 Cr App R 33, [2009] Crim LR 433, [2009] 1 WLR 458
Cited – Wai Yutsang v The Queen PC 14-Oct-1991
(Hong Kong) The defendant was chief accountant in a bank. He caused to be made false entries to fail to reflect the dishonouring of substantial cheques. He was charged alone on an allegation of conspiracy. His defence was that he merely obeyed the . .
Cited – Norris v United States of America and others HL 12-Mar-2008
The detainee appealed an order for extradition to the USA, saying that the offence (price-fixing) was not one known to English common law. The USA sought his extradition under the provisions of the Sherman Act.
Held: It was not, and it would . .
Cited – Regina v K CACD 2005
The particulars on an indictment should make clear to the defence the case which it must meet. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.266165
The court upheld a decision to prosecute a 15-year-old applicant for road traffic offences rather than to divert him from prosecution and caution. Penry-Davey J said: ‘It is clear from the case of R v Chief Constable of Kent ex parte L [1991] 93 Cr App R 416 that the discretion vested in the Crown Prosecution Service to continue criminal proceedings commenced by the police is subject to judicial review by this court, but only where it can be demonstrated that the decision was made regardless of or clearly contrary to a settled policy of the Director of Public Prosecutions evolved in the public interest; for example, the policy of cautioning juveniles, a policy which the Crown Prosecution Service is bound to apply where appropriate to the exercise of its discretion to continue or discontinue criminal proceedings. However, as Watkins LJ pointed out in that case, it would be only rarely that a defendant could succeed in showing that a decision was fatally flawed in such a manner as that.’
Penry-Davey J
Unreported, 6 October 2000
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of Kent ex parte L 1991
The discretion which is vested in the Crown Prosecution Service to continue criminal proceedings commenced by the police is subject to judicial review by the High Court, but only where it can be shown that the decision was made regardless of, or . .
Cited – A, Regina (on the application of) v South Yorkshire Police and Another Admn 9-May-2007
Six youths challenged decisions that they should be prosecuted for offences of criminal damage rather than be given warnings in accordance with the Final Warning Scheme. They said that they had not sought representation at the police station after . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.259219
In addition to assessment of his solicitor’s bill of costs, the acquitted defendant claimed pounds 3,971.50 as ‘the costs of a specialist graphics contractor’ who had been instructed and paid directly by the defendant.
Held: Moses J stated: ‘It does not follow that, because a solicitor has claimed costs and disbursements, that will necessarily rule out other expenses and disbursements having been incurred by the litigant himself.’ The matter was remitted for reconsideration of whether the item had been ‘properly incurred’ in the particular circumstances of the case.
Moses J, Tuckey LJ
Unreported, 21 October 1999, CO/0900/99
England and Wales
Cited – Brewer, Regina (on the Application of) v Supreme Court Costs Office Admn 27-Jul-2006
The defendant had been acquitted. Orders had been made both for payment of his legal costs, and also for re-imbursement of his own costs. The defendant was accused of serious fraud, and had engaged an American attorney to assist him before . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.244443
Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Briggs, Lady Arden, Lord Hamblen, Lord Stephens
[2021] UKSC 2
Bailii, Bailii Press Summary, Bailii Issues and Facts
Criminal Justice Act 1987 2(3)
England and Wales
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.657730
The appellant asserted abuse of process. He had previously (2002) been arrested for offences under the 1960 Act. The prosecution was dropped with insufficient evidence. Evidence was stored, and much lost. He now objected that a decision now to go ahead was an abuse saying that the missing evidence included material which would have assisted him.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. Such issues are intensely fact specific.
Fulford LJ, May, Swift JJ
[2019] EWCA Crim 1225, [2019] WLR(D) 400
Indecency with Children Act 1960 1(1)
England and Wales
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.640047
Claim for judicial review in which the claimant challenges an order made in the Crown Court which required him to pay the costs incurred by the Interested Parties in a private criminal prosecution for blackmail brought against them by the claimant.
Held: The order was correct and justified.
Lord Justice Males
[2019] EWHC 1731 (Admin)
Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986 3
England and Wales
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.639693
Questions about the respective powers of courts and court staff to exclude members of the public from a court building because of a perceived risk that they would cause disruption and about when an unlawful limitation of access deprives a hearing of its public character.
Fulford LJ, Leggatt J
[2016] EWHC 2792 (Admin)
England and Wales
Cited – Storer v British Gas plc CA 25-Feb-2000
An industrial tribunal hearing conducted behind the locked doors of the chairman’s office was not held in public, even if, in fact, no member of the public was prevented from attending. The obligation to sit in public was fundamental, and the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.571045
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to be applied to avoid his identity being known. The trial judge made an order under the 1933 Act, but this was overturned, lastly at the Court of Appeal.
Held: The case involved the conflict between articles 8 and 10. ‘the ordinary rule is that the press, as the watchdog of the public, may report everything that takes place in a criminal court.’ . . ‘I would add that in European jurisprudence and in domestic practice this is a strong rule. It can only be displaced by unusual or exceptional circumstances. It is, however, not a mechanical rule. The duty of the court is to examine with care each application for a departure from the rule by reason of rights under article 8 . . earlier case law about the existence and scope of inherent jurisdiction need not be considered in this case or in similar cases. The foundation of the jurisdiction to restrain publicity in a case such as the present is now derived from convention rights under the ECHR.’
Though invoked on this occasion in support of a child, the result of granting an order would not be so restricted in future cases, the scope of the order might be increased, the result for the media may be to lessen their interest, and therefore the part they play. Last the need to challenge such proceedings may be prohibitively expensive for many news organisations, particularly local. No one Convention right takes automatic precedence over another. The appeal was denied.
Lord Steyn identified four propositions: ‘1. Neither Article (8 nor 10) as such has precedence over the other
2. Where values under the two Articles are in conflict, an intense focus on the comparative importance of the specific rights being claimed in the individual case is necessary
3. The justifications for interfering with or restricting each right must be taken into account
4. The proportionality test must be applied to each’.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead,
Children and Young Persons Act 1933 39, European Convention on Human Rights 8 10
England and Wales
At first instance – Re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) FD 19-Feb-2003
A trial judge had refused an order that steps should not be taken so as to allow S to be identified in reporting the trial of his mother for the alleged murder of his brother by salt poisoning.
Held: The court dismissed the application for an . .
Appeal from – In re S (A Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) CA 10-Jul-2003
An order was sought to protect from publicity a child whose mother faced trial for the murder of his brother. The child was now in care.
Held: The court must balance the need to protect the child with the need for freedom of the press. The . .
Cited – Pretto And Others v Italy ECHR 8-Dec-1983
The court considered the value of court proceedings being public: ‘The public character of proceedings before the judicial bodies referred to in Article 6(1) protects litigants against the administration of justice in secret with no public scrutiny; . .
Cited – Axen v Germany ECHR 8-Dec-1983
‘The public character of proceedings before the judicial bodies referred to in Article 6(1) protects litigants against the administration of justice in secret with no public scrutiny; it is also one of the means whereby confidence in the courts, . .
Cited – Werner v Austria ECHR 24-Nov-1997
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection joined to merits (non-exhaustion); Preliminary objection rejected (non-exhaustion); Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Costs and expenses . .
Cited – Diennet v France ECHR 26-Sep-1995
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1 (publicly); No violation of Art. 6-1 (impartiality); Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses partial award – . .
Cited – Scott v Scott HL 5-May-1913
Presumption in Favour of Open Proceedings
There had been an unauthorised dissemination by the petitioner to third parties of the official shorthand writer’s notes of a nullity suit which had been heard in camera. An application was made for a committal for contempt.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Bakova v Slovakia ECHR 12-Nov-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1 ; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award ; Costs and expenses partial award – domestic proceedings . .
Cited – Machous v The Czech Republic ECHR 12-Jul-2001
. .
Cited – Attorney-General v Leveller Magazine Ltd HL 1-Feb-1979
The appellants were magazines and journalists who published, after committal proceedings, the name of a witness, a member of the security services, who had been referred to as Colonel B during the hearing. An order had been made for his name not to . .
Cited – Riepan v Austria ECHR 14-Nov-2000
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention . .
Cited – In re X (A Minor) (Wardship: Jurisdiction) FD 1975
A stepfather made the child a ward of court in order to try to stop publication of a book containing passages about the sex life of her deceased father. The jurisdiction to order that a child’s name should not be made known, is not exercisable at . .
Cited – In re Z (A Minor) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) CA 31-Jul-1995
The court was asked whether the daughter of Cecil Parkinson and Sarah Keays should be permitted to take part in a television programme about the specialist help she was receiving for her special educational needs.
Held: The court refused to . .
Cited – R (Mrs) v Central Independent Television Plc CA 17-Feb-1994
The court did not have power to stop a TV program identifying a ward of court, but which was not about the care of the ward. The first instance court had granted an injunction in relation to a television programme dealing with the arrest and the . .
Cited – Re H (Minors) (Injunction: Public Interest) 1994
A father with whom children were living was restrained from publicising his sex change in order to protect the children from harassment. The injunction was in contra mundum form. . .
Cited – Re C (Wardship: Medical Treatment) (No 2) CA 1989
The court had already made an order about the way in which the health professionals were able to look after a severely disabled baby girl; an injunction was granted prohibiting identification of the child, her parents, her current carers and the . .
Cited – In re M and N (Minors) (Wardship: Publication of Information) CA 1990
The court considered whether to order that a child’s name be not published where the decision to publish would not affect the way in which the child is cared for, the child’s welfare is relevant but not paramount and must be balanced against freedom . .
Cited – In Re R (Wardship: Restrictions on Publication) CA 1994
The parents had separated and the child made a ward of court. The mother had care and control and the father had access. The father abducted the child to Israel but she was recovered. The father was extradited to stand trial here. He sought . .
Cited – In re W (A Minor) (Wardship: Restrictions on Publication) CA 1992
The court considered the risks of a child being identified despite restrictions on disclosure: ‘It is to be anticipated that in almost every case the public interest in favour of publication can be satisfied without any identification of the ward to . .
Cited – Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd and others HL 28-Oct-1999
Fair Coment on Political Activities
The defendant newspaper had published articles wrongly accusing the claimant, the former Prime Minister of Ireland of duplicity. The paper now appealed, saying that it should have had available to it a defence of qualified privilege because of the . .
Cited – Greene v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 5-Nov-2004
The claimant appealed against refusal of an order restraining publication by the respondent of an article about her. She said that it was based upon an email falsely attributed to her.
Held: ‘in an action for defamation a court will not impose . .
Cited – W v Westminster City Council and Others QBD 9-Dec-2004
The claimant sought to bring an action for defamation based upon communications made in a child protection conference. The reference was in a Report for Conference to be held pursuant to the duties imposed on local authorities by the Children Act . .
Cited – Energy Financing Team Ltd and others v The Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Bow Street Magistrates Court Admn 22-Jul-2005
The claimants sought to set aside warrants and executions under them to provide assistance to a foreign court investigating alleged unlawful assistance to companies in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Held: The issue of such a warrant was a serious step. . .
Cited – E v Channel Four, News International Ltd and St Helens Borough Council FD 1-Jun-2005
The applicant sought an order restraining publication by the defendants of material, saying she did not have capacity to consent to the publication. She suffered a multiple personality disorder. She did herself however clearly wish the film to be . .
Cited – Gazette Media Company Ltd. and Others, Regina (on the Application Of) v Teeside Crown Court CACD 26-Jul-2005
The claimants appealed an order restricting their reporting of a criminal case so as to identify the defendant.
Held: Orders preventing the naming of a defendant in order to protect associated children are unlikely to enhance any child . .
Cited – A Local Authority v W L W T and R; In re W (Children) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) FD 14-Jul-2005
An application was made by a local authority to restrict publication of the name of a defendant in criminal proceedings in order to protect children in their care. The mother was accused of having assaulted the second respondent by knowingly . .
Cited – British Broadcasting Company v Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and X and Y FD 24-Nov-2005
Application was made by the claimant for orders discharging an order made in 1991 to protect the identity of children and social workers embroiled in allegations of satanic sex abuse. The defendant opposed disclosure of the names of two social . .
Cited – Mersey Care NHS Trust v Ackroyd QBD 7-Feb-2006
The trust, operators of Ashworth Secure Hospital sought from the defendant journalist disclosure of the name of their employee who had revealed to the defendant matters about the holding of Ian Brady, the Moors Murderer, and in particular medical . .
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 1-Nov-2006
The claimants wished to claim that they were victims of a miscarriage of justice in the way the Council had dealt with care proceedings. They sought that the proceedings should be reported without the children being identified.
Held: A judge . .
Cited – X and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
Cited – Associated Newspapers Ltd v Prince of Wales CA 21-Dec-2006
The defendant newspaper appealed summary judgment against it for breach of confidence and copyright infringement having published the claimant’s journals which he said were private.
Held: Upheld, although the judge had given insufficient . .
Cited – Mersey Care NHS Trust v Ackroyd CA 21-Feb-2007
The defendant journalist had published confidential material obtained from the claimant’s secure hospital at Ashworth. The hospital now appealed against the refusal of an order for him to to disclose his source.
Held: The appeal failed. Given . .
Cited – Lord Browne of Madingley v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 3-Apr-2007
The appellant sought to restrict publication by the defendants in the Mail on Sunday of matters which he said were a breach of confidence. He had lied to a court in giving evidence, whilst at the same time being ready to trash the reputation of his . .
Cited – LM, Re (Reporting Restrictions; Coroner’s Inquest) FD 1-Aug-2007
A child had died. In earlier civil proceedings, the court had laid responsibility with the mother. Restrictions had been placed on the information which would effectively prevent the coroner conducting his inquest. The coroner sought a lifting of . .
Cited – Murray v Express Newspapers Plc and Another ChD 7-Aug-2007
The claimant, now aged four and the son of a famous author, was photographed by use of a long lens, but in a public street. He now sought removal of the photograph from the defendant’s catalogue, and damages for breach of confidence.
Held: The . .
Cited – British Broadcasting Corporation v CAFCASS Legal and others FD 30-Mar-2007
Parents of a child had resisted care proceedings, and now wished the BBC to be able to make a TV programme about their case. They applied to the court for the judgment to be released. Applications were also made to have a police officer’s and . .
Cited – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd v Secretary of State for the Home Department and AY Admn 17-Oct-2008
The newspaper applied to challenge the protection of the identity of the defendant subject to a control order under the 2005 Act. It said that there was no basis for the making of the order without first considering the Human Rights need for open . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Regina and others CMAC 24-Oct-2008
Anonymity not to be by secret trial
The newspaper appealed against an order for the defendant soldiers’ trial to be held in camera.
Held: Section 94(2) could not be used to provide anonymity. The court relied on its common law powers under which: ‘for us to be entitled to make . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Soldier B CACD 24-Oct-2008
(Court’s Martial Appeal Court) The newspaper appealed against an order under section 94 of the 1955 Act restricting the identification of the defendants. The judge had said there would be a threat to both the safety of the defendants and as to the . .
Cited – Clift v Slough Borough Council and Another QBD 6-Jul-2009
The claimant sought damages for defamation. The council had decided that she had threatened a member of staff and notified various people, and entered her name on a violent persons register. She alleged malice, the council pleaded justification and . .
Cited – Metropolitan International Schools Ltd. (T/A Skillstrain And/Or Train2Game) v Designtechnica Corp (T/A Digital Trends) and Others QBD 16-Jul-2009
The claimant complained that the defendant had published on its internet forums comments by posters which were defamatory of it, and which were then made available by the second defendant search engine. The court was asked what responsibility a . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 1999: Application By the British Broadcasting Corporation To Set Aside or Vary a Reporting Restriction Order HL 17-Jun-2009
An application was made to discharge an anonymity order made in previous criminal proceedings before the House. The defendant was to be retried for rape under the 2003 Act, after an earlier acquittal. The applicant questioned whether such a order . .
Cited – Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd QBD 2-Oct-2009
The defendant had published a story in its newspaper. At that time it attracted Reynolds qualified privilege. After the circumstances changed, the paper offered an updating item. That offer was rejected as inadequate.
Held: The qualified . .
Cited – Child X (Residence and Contact- Rights of Media Attendance) (Rev 2) FD 14-Jul-2009
The father applied to the court to have the media excluded from the hearing into the residence and contact claims relating to his daughter.
Held: It was for the party seeking such an order to justify it. In deciding whether or not to exclude . .
Cited – In re Guardian News and Media Ltd and Others; HM Treasury v Ahmed and Others SC 27-Jan-2010
Proceedings had been brought to challenge the validity of Orders in Council which had frozen the assets of the claimants in those proceedings. Ancillary orders were made and confirmed requiring them not to be identified. As the cases came to the . .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 9-Feb-2010
. .
Cited – In re W (Children) (Family proceedings: Evidence) (Abuse: Oral Evidence) SC 3-Mar-2010
The court considered the approach to be taken when considering whether to order a child’s attendance at court in care proceedings. It was argued that the starting point of assuming that a child should not attend, failed to respect the human right to . .
Cited – A v Independent News and Media Ltd and Others CA 31-Mar-2010
The newspapers sought leave to report proceedings before the Court of Protection in connection with a patient unable to manage his own affairs. The patient retained a possible capacity to work as a professional musician. The family wanted the . .
Cited – Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd CA 13-Jul-2010
The claimant police officer complained of an article he said was defamatory in saying he was being investigated for allegations of accepting bribes. The article remained on the internet even after he was cleared. Each party appealed interim orders. . .
Cited – RST v UVW QBD 11-Sep-2009
The applicant sought an interim and without notice injunction preventing the defendant from disclosing confidential information covered by an agreement between the parties.
Held: The order was made on a without notice application because there . .
Cited – Ntuli v Donald CA 16-Nov-2010
The defendant sought the discharge of a super-injunction, an order against not only the identification of the parties, but also the existence of the proceedings.
Held: The order preventing publication of the underlying allegations remained, . .
Cited – ETK v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 19-Apr-2011
The claimant appealed against refusal of an injunction to restrain the defendant newspaper from publishing his name in connection with a forthcoming article. The claimant had had an affair with a co-worker. Both were married. The relationship ended, . .
Cited – CTB v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another (1) QBD 16-May-2011
A leading footballer had obtained an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing his identity and allegations of sexual misconduct. The claimant said that she had demanded money not to go public.
Held: It had not been suggested that . .
Cited – TSE and ELP v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 23-May-2011
The claimants had obtained an injunction preventing publication of details of their private lives and against being publicly named. The newspaper had not attempted to raise any public interest defence. Various publications had taken place to breach . .
Cited – Goodwin v NGN Ltd and VBN QBD 9-Jun-2011
The claimant had obtained an injunction preventing publication of his name and that of his coworker with whom he had had an affair. After widespread publication of his name elsewhere, the defendant had secured the discharge of the order as regards . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis and Another v Times Newspapers Ltd and Another QBD 21-Jun-2011
The defendant had published an article based upon information said to be confidential and leaked from the claimant’s offices. A defamation claimant was suing the defendant in defamation, and the defendant wished to rely on the information in its . .
Cited – In re A (A Minor) FD 8-Jul-2011
An application was made in care proceedings for an order restricting publication of information about the family after the deaths of two siblings of the child subject to the application. The Sun and a local newspaper had already published stories . .
Cited – Ferdinand v MGN Limited QBD 29-Sep-2011
The claimant, a famous footballer, complained that an article by the defendant relating an affair he had had, had infringed his right to privacy. The defendant relied on its right to freedom of expression. The claimant had at an earlier stage, and . .
Cited – Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council v Watson (No 2) FD 1-Sep-2011
The defendant applied to be allowed to purge her contempt of court.
Held: The court first pointed out that the defendant had not been sentenced in secret, but in open court. The contempt had been serious leading to the identity of the child . .
Cited – Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd SC 21-Mar-2012
The defendant had published an article which was defamatory of the claimant police officer, saying that he was under investigation for alleged corruption. The inquiry later cleared him. The court was now asked whether the paper had Reynolds type . .
Cited – McClaren v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 5-Sep-2012
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction to restrain the defendant publishing what he said was private information about a sexual encounter. He also sought an injunction under the 1997 Act.
Held: The claim succeeded: ‘there have been . .
Cited – A, Regina (on The Application of) v Lowestoft Magistrates’ Court Admn 26-Mar-2013
A had pleaded guilty to a charge of being drunk in a public place, while having the charge of a child under the age of 7 years, contrary to section 2(1) of the Licensing Act 1902. The child in question was A’s daughter, to whom I shall refer as B. B . .
Cited – London Borough of Barnet v X and Another FC 18-Apr-2006
Barnet County Court – Munby J considered the publication of children proceedings: ‘ In my view the public generally, and not just the professional readers of law reports or similar publications, have a legitimate – indeed a compelling – interest in . .
Cited – H v A (No2) FD 17-Sep-2015
The court had previously published and then withdrawn its judgment after third parties had been able to identify those involved by pulling together media and internet reports with the judgment.
Held: The judgment case should be published in . .
Cited – V v Associated Newspapers Ltd and Others CoP 25-Apr-2016
A patient had earlier been given protection by the anonymisation of her case. She had since died, and the court considered whether the order should be continued to protect members of the family.
Held: The Court of Protection had jursidiction . .
Cited – A v British Broadcasting Corporation (Scotland) SC 8-May-2014
Anonymised Party to Proceedings
The BBC challenged an order made by the Court of Session in judicial review proceedings, permitting the applicant review to delete his name and address and substituting letters of the alphabet, in the exercise (or, as the BBC argues, purported . .
Cited – PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd SC 19-May-2016
The appellants had applied for restrictions on the publication of stories about their extra marital affairs. The Court of Appeal had removed the restrictions on the basis that the story had been widely spread outside the jurisdiction both on the . .
Cited – OPO v MLA and Another CA 9-Oct-2014
The claimant child sought to prevent publication by his father of an autobiography which, he said, would be likely to cause him psychological harm. The father was well known classical musician who said that he had himself suffered sexual abuse as a . .
Cited – Weller and Others v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 20-Nov-2015
The three children of a musician complained of the publication of photographs taken of them in a public place in California. . .
Cited – PNM v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others SC 19-Jul-2017
No anonymity for investigation suspect
The claimant had been investigated on an allegation of historic sexual abuse. He had never been charged, but the investigation had continued with others being convicted in a high profile case. He appealed from refusal of orders restricting . .
Cited – Regina (on the application of C) v Secretary of State for Justice SC 27-Jan-2016
The applicant was a convicted murderer who had been held in a high security mental hospital. His application for unescorted leave had been refused, and he wished to challenge the decisions. Anonymity in the subsequent proceedings had been refused to . .
Cited – NT 1 and NT 2 v Google Llc QBD 13-Apr-2018
Right to be Forgotten is not absolute
The two claimants separately had criminal convictions from years before. They objected to the defendant indexing third party web pages which included personal data in the form of information about those convictions, which were now spent. The claims . .
Cited – Regina v Croydon Crown Court ex parte Trinity Mirror Plc; In re Trinity Mirror plc CACD 1-Feb-2008
An order had been made protecting the identity of a defendant who pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children. The order was made in the interests of his own children, although they had been neither witnesses in the proceedings against . .
Cited – ZC v Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust QBD 26-Jul-2019
Defamation/privacy claims against doctors failed
The claimant, seeking damages for alleged defamation, now asked for the case to be anonymised.
Held: The conditions for anonymisation were not met. The anonymity would be retained temporarily until any time for appeal had passed.
As to . .
Cited – Re Al M (Children) CA 28-Feb-2020
Publication of Children judgment – wide publicity
F brought wardship proceedings in respect of M and F’s two children, seeking their return to Dubai. F was the Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai. Media companies now sought publication of earlier judgments, and F appealed from an order for their . .
Cited – ZXC v Bloomberg Lp CA 15-May-2020
Privacy Expecation during police investigations
Appeal from a judgment finding that the Defendant had breached the Claimant’s privacy rights. He made an award of damages for the infraction of those rights and granted an injunction restraining Bloomberg from publishing information which further . .
Cited – XXX v Camden London Borough Council CA 11-Nov-2020
Anonymity in Court Proceedings – No two stage test
XXX appealed against the refusal to make orders anonymising her name and redacting certain details from published judgments. The appeal raised a point about the proper approach to applications for anonymisation under CPR 39.2. She brought . .
Cited – Imam, Regina (on The Application of) v The London Borough of Croydon (Anonymity request) Admn 26-Mar-2021
Anonymity Not Necessary under CPR 3.92.
Judgment on the Claimant’s application for an order under CPR 39.2(4) that her name be anonymised in these proceedings by the use of a cipher and that restrictions should be imposed on the reporting of her identity. She said that publication of her . .
Cited – Pembrokeshire Herald, Re (Leave To Appeal) CACD 27-Jul-2021
A teacher had been tried and acquitted of sexual assaults on girls at his school. The court made an order restricting reporting to disallow identification of anyone involved. The paper now appealed from refusal after the trial to lift the . .
Cited – Belhaj and Another v Director of Public Prosecutions and Another SC 4-Jul-2018
Challenge to decision not to prosecute senior Intelligence Service officials for alleged offences in connection with his unlawful rendition and mistreatment in Libya. The issue here was whether on the hearing of the application for judicial review, . .
Cited – Money v AB ChD 10-Nov-2021
Anonymity – balance in favour of open justice
Ruling on an application by the Defendant for anonymity.
Held: Refused: ‘The mental health condition of the Defendant and the impact of the judgment on his family relationships are, therefore, relevant factors to take into account, but they do . .
Cited – Lu v Solicitors Regulation Authority Admn 6-Jul-2022
No Unmnecessary Anoniymity
The appellant, having been acquitted of misconduct, complained of the anonymisation of various partied by the SDT.
Held: The court was critical of the approach taken by the Tribunal. ‘I see no good reason why Ms Pearson, Ms Stone, Mr Ewing and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.219019
The appellants were magazines and journalists who published, after committal proceedings, the name of a witness, a member of the security services, who had been referred to as Colonel B during the hearing. An order had been made for his name not to be disclosed during the hearing, but the court had had no power to restrain its publication after the trial. The journalists appealed against convictions for contempt.
Held: The importance of press and media reports in safeguarding the public character of court proceedings is reinforced by the privilege afforded to fair and accurate reports of the proceedings. It might well be contempt to frustrate the courts attempt properly to protect the identity of a witness by publications after the hearing, but in this case, the witness had himself given information in evidence which was capable of leading to his identity, and the appeal succeeded.
Lord Diplock said: ‘As a general rule the English system of administering justice does require that it be done in public: Scott v Scott [1913] AC 417. If the way that courts behave cannot be hidden from the public ear and eye this provides a safeguard against judicial arbitrariness or idiosyncrasy and maintains the public confidence in the administration of justice. The application of this principle of open justice has two aspects: as respects proceedings in the court itself it requires that they should be held in open court to which the press and public are admitted . . As respects the publication to a wider public of fair and accurate reports of proceedings that have taken place in court the principle requires that nothing should be done to discourage this.’
and ‘However, since the purpose of the general rule is to serve the ends of justice it may be necessary to depart from it where the nature or circumstances of the particular proceeding are such that the application of the general rule in its entirety would frustrate or render impracticable the administration of justice or would damage some other public interest for whose protection Parliament has made some statutory derogation from the rule.’
Lord Edmund-Davies referred to a contempt case in which the names of two victims of blackmail had been published at a late stage of the trial: ‘And it should be observed that no publication of the victims’ names took place until the judge was about to sum up, and there was accordingly no question of the administration of justice in that case being prejudiced by their being deterred from giving evidence for the prosecution. So the basis of the decision seems to be that publication was objectionable on the general ground that in any and every blackmail case the administration of justice in future prosecutions will be interfered with if victims names are published.’
He referred to publication of evidence received in camera: ‘And what appears certain is that at common law the fact that a court sat wholly or partly in camera (and even where in such circumstances the court gave a direction prohibiting publication of information relating to what had been said or done behind closed doors) did not itself and in every case necessarily mean that publication thereafter constituted contempt of court.
For that to arise something more than disobedience of the court’s direction needs to be established. That something more is that the publication must be of such a nature as to threaten the administration of justice either in the particular case in relation to which the prohibition was pronounced or in relation to cases which may be brought in the future.’
Lord Russell of Killowen drew the distinction between prejudicing the administration of justice in the case reported and prejudicing the administration of justice as a continuing process: ‘In my opinion it really goes without saying that behind the application (and the decision) lay considerations of the due administration of justice. In the first place an alternative to the via media adopted would be an application that ‘Colonel B’s’ evidence be taken in camera, and in principle the less that evidence is taken in camera the better for the due administration of justice, a point with which journalists certainly no less than others would agree. In the second place a decision on anonymity – the via media – would obviously, and for the same reasons, be highly desirable in the interest of the due administration of justice as a continuing process in future in such cases.’
Lord Diplock, Viscount Dilhorne, Lord Edmund-Davies, Lord Russell of Killowen and Lord Scarman
[1979] AC 440, [1978] 3 All ER 731, [1979] 2 WLR 247
England and Wales
Cited – Attorney-General v Butterworth CA 1962
The court considered the penalisation of a witness who had given evidence in contempt of the court.
It would be a contempt for someone to threaten or interfere with a witness in order to deter them from giving evidence or in order to persuade . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Times Newspapers Ltd HL 1973
The House considered the bringing of contempt proceedings by the Attorney General.
Held: The Attorney General must prove to the criminal standard of proof that the respondent had committed an act or omission calculated to interfere with or . .
Cited – In re F (otherwise A ) (A Minor) (Publication of Information) CA 1977
An allegation of contempt was made in proceedings related to the publication by a newspaper of extracts from a report by a social worker and a report by the Official Solicitor, both prepared after the commencement and for the purpose of the wardship . .
Cited – Johnson v Grant SCS 1923
Lord Clyde, the Lord President considered whether the contemnor should be given early release from prison and said: ‘The mere circumstance that he presents a belated expression of contrition has, with regard to the public aspect of the matter, . .
Cited – Regina v Border Television Ltd, Ex parte Attorney-General QBD 18-Jan-1978
The defendant media company was found guilty of contempt for reporting that the defendant had pleaded guilty at the outset of her trial to a number of other charges against her. No warning had been given. . .
Cited – Regina vNewcastle Chronicle and Journal Ltd, Ex parte Attorney-General QBD 18-Jan-1978
. .
Cited – Regina v Socialist Worker Printers and Publishers Ltd, Ex parte Attorney-General CA 1974
In a blackmail case, the court ordered non publication of the names of the complainants. Thinking they were not bound, the defendants published the names.
Held: The publishers and Mr Michael Foot were held to be in contempt of court in . .
Cited – Rex v Blumenfeld, Ex parte Tupper 1912
Where a defendant in a defamation action states clearly his intention to defend the action pleading justification, the court will not intervene to prevent repetition of the alleged defamatory words. . .
Cited – Rex v Davies, Ex parte Delbert-Evans and sub nom Delbert-Evans v Davies and Watson KBD 1945
Humphreys J said that there was ample authority for saying that ‘During the time between the conviction of the accused person on the indictment and his appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal, the case is not ended at all, but is still sub judice, or . .
Cited – Scott v Scott HL 5-May-1913
Presumption in Favour of Open Proceedings
There had been an unauthorised dissemination by the petitioner to third parties of the official shorthand writer’s notes of a nullity suit which had been heard in camera. An application was made for a committal for contempt.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Taylor v Attorney-General 1975
(New Zealand – Court of Appeal) A court has power to make an explicit order directed to and binding on the public ipso jure as to what might lawfully be published outside the courtroom in relation to proceedings held before it. . .
Cited – PA Thomas and Co v Mould QBD 1968
The court urged caution in the grant of an injunction to protect information for which confidence was claimed but where that claim might not succeed. O’Connor J refused to enforce by committal an injunction restraining the defendants from making use . .
Cited – Rex v Governor of Lewes Prison, Ex parte Doyle CA 1917
Viscount Reading CJ: ‘But, even though we had come to the conclusion that the warrant of commitment was bad on the face of it, as this is a case of commitment after conviction we are again not only entitled but bound to look at the conviction in . .
Appeal from – Attorney-General v Leveller Magazine Ltd QBD 1978
The AG sought committal for contempt of several journalists after the published the identity of Colonel B, a man who had given evidence at certain committal proceedings under protaction of an order for his anonymity.
Held: The orders were . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Times Newspapers Ltd HL 1991
Injunctions had been granted to preserve the status quo in proceedings brought to prevent the publication of the book ‘Spycatcher’. The defendants published extracts, and now appealed a finding that they had acted in contempt.
Held: The . .
Cited – Re S (A Child) CA 10-Jul-2003
The mother of the child on behalf of whom the application was made, was to face trial for murder. The child was in care and an order was sought to restrain publiction of material which might reveal his identity, including matters arising during the . .
Cited – Independent Publishing Company Limited v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, The Director of Public Prosecutions PC 8-Jun-2004
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The newspapers had been accused of contempt of court having reported matters in breach of court orders, and the editors committed to prison after a summary hearing: ‘In deciding whether . .
Cited – Pelling v Bruce-Williams, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs intervening CA 5-Jul-2004
The applicant sought an order that his application for a joint residence order should be held in public.
Held: Though there was some attractiveness in the applicant’s arguments, the issue had been fully canvassed by the ECHR. The time had come . .
Cited – Regina v Legal Aid Board ex parte Kaim Todner (a Firm of Solicitors) CA 10-Jun-1998
Limitation on Making of Anonymity Orders
A firm of solicitors sought an order for anonymity in their proceedings against the LAB, saying that being named would damage their interests irrespective of the outcome.
Held: The legal professions have no special part in the law as a party . .
Cited – Regina v Westminster City Council Ex Parte Castelli QBD 14-Aug-1995
An applicant, who was HIV positive, wished his identity to be concealed.
Held: Some publicity had already occurred A Contempt of Court anonymity order was not to be used to protect a litigant’s privacy. . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – Home Office v Hariette Harman HL 11-Feb-1982
The defendant had permitted a journalist to see documents revealed to her as in her capacity as a solicitor in the course of proceedings.
Held: The documents were disclosed under an obligation to use them for the instant case only. That rule . .
Cited – Rooney and Others, Re Attorney General’s Reference (Number 1 of 2005) CANI 11-Nov-2005
The defendants had been convicted or armed robbery. The Attorney General appealed against the sentences saying they were too lenient. Rooney argued that his plea of guilty had been after an indication by the judge and the reference was misguided. . .
Cited – HM Customs and Excise v Barclays Bank Plc HL 21-Jun-2006
The claimant had served an asset freezing order on the bank in respect of one of its customers. The bank paid out on a cheque inadvertently as to the order. The Commissioners claimed against the bank in negligence. The bank denied any duty of care. . .
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 1-Nov-2006
The claimants wished to claim that they were victims of a miscarriage of justice in the way the Council had dealt with care proceedings. They sought that the proceedings should be reported without the children being identified.
Held: A judge . .
Cited – LM, Re (Reporting Restrictions; Coroner’s Inquest) FD 1-Aug-2007
A child had died. In earlier civil proceedings, the court had laid responsibility with the mother. Restrictions had been placed on the information which would effectively prevent the coroner conducting his inquest. The coroner sought a lifting of . .
Cited – Regina v Murphy and Another CANI 1990
The two defendants were tried for the murder of two British Army corporals. The prosecution adduced the evidence of a number of television journalists who, in the course of their work, had filmed the scene of the killing. The judge gave leave that . .
Cited – Regina v Davis HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant had been tried for the murder of two men by shooting them at a party. He was identified as the murderer by three witnesses who had been permitted to give evidence anonymously, from behind screens, because they had refused, out of fear, . .
Cited – Regina v Evesham Justices, ex parte McDonnagh QBD 1988
The court considered the existence of a power in the magistrates court to order a hearing to be held in camera and referred to section 11 of the 1981 Act. Watkins LJ said: ‘However, I am bound to say that I am impressed with the argument that the . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Regina and others CMAC 24-Oct-2008
Anonymity not to be by secret trial
The newspaper appealed against an order for the defendant soldiers’ trial to be held in camera.
Held: Section 94(2) could not be used to provide anonymity. The court relied on its common law powers under which: ‘for us to be entitled to make . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Soldier B CACD 24-Oct-2008
(Court’s Martial Appeal Court) The newspaper appealed against an order under section 94 of the 1955 Act restricting the identification of the defendants. The judge had said there would be a threat to both the safety of the defendants and as to the . .
Cited – HM Attorney General v Associated Newspapers Ltd and Others QBD 9-Dec-1992
A newspaper was held to have been in contempt of court for publishing details of the deliberations of a jury, even though it had not solicited the information. Beldam LJ said of the word ‘disclosure’: ‘It is a word wide enough to encompass the . .
Cited – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 4) Admn 4-Feb-2009
In an earlier judgment, redactions had been made relating to reports by the US government of its treatment of the claimant when held by them at Guantanamo bay. The claimant said he had been tortured and sought the documents to support his defence of . .
Cited – Al Rawi and Others v The Security Service and Others CA 4-May-2010
Each claimant had been captured and mistreated by the US government, and claimed the involvement in and responsibility for that mistreatment by the respondents. The court was asked whether a court in England and Wales, in the absence of statutory . .
Cited – Harper and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Aldershot Magistrates Court Admn 8-Jun-2010
Police defendants not to have addresses withheld
The defendants, senior police officers were accused of misconduct in public office, being said to have sought improperly to interfere in prosecutions for speeding. They appealed against refusal by the magistrates to have their addresses protected. . .
Cited – Allen v The Grimsby Telegraph and Another QBD 2-Mar-2011
The claimant sought to prevent publication of his name in the context of the making of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO). He had been convicted of offences against sex workers. An order had been made preventing disclosure of his address, but . .
Cited – Al Rawi and Others v The Security Service and Others SC 13-Jul-2011
The claimant pursued a civil claim for damages, alleging complicity of the respondent in his torture whilst in the custody of foreign powers. The respondent sought that certain materials be available to the court alone and not to the claimant or the . .
Cited – Guardian News and Media Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court CA 3-Apr-2012
The newspaper applied for leave to access documents referred to but not released during the course of extradition proceedings in open court.
Held: The application was to be allowed. Though extradition proceedings were not governed by the Civil . .
Cited – Regina v D(R) Misc 16-Sep-2013
Crown Court at Blackfriars – the court was asked to what extent a witness wanting, from religious conviction, to hide her face with the niqaab form of Islamic dress should be allowed to do so, whilst giving evidence.
Held: The court considered . .
Cited – MX v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Others CA 17-Feb-2015
Application was made for approval of a compromise of a claim for damages for personal injury for the child. The court now considered whether an order should be made to protect the identity of the six year old claimant.
Held: An order should . .
Cited – H v A (No2) FD 17-Sep-2015
The court had previously published and then withdrawn its judgment after third parties had been able to identify those involved by pulling together media and internet reports with the judgment.
Held: The judgment case should be published in . .
Cited – A v British Broadcasting Corporation (Scotland) SC 8-May-2014
Anonymised Party to Proceedings
The BBC challenged an order made by the Court of Session in judicial review proceedings, permitting the applicant review to delete his name and address and substituting letters of the alphabet, in the exercise (or, as the BBC argues, purported . .
Cited – HM Solicitor General v Cox and Another QBD 27-May-2016
Applications for committal of the defendants for having taken photographs of court proceedings when their friend was being sentenced for murder and publishing them on Facebook. The SG urged that the offences had aggravating features taking the . .
Cited – PNM v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others SC 19-Jul-2017
No anonymity for investigation suspect
The claimant had been investigated on an allegation of historic sexual abuse. He had never been charged, but the investigation had continued with others being convicted in a high profile case. He appealed from refusal of orders restricting . .
Cited – Sarker, Regina v CACD 13-Jun-2018
The defendant was to face trial under the 2006 Act. He applied for an order under section 4(2) of the 1981 Act postponing the reporting of the proceedings on the grounds that knowledge by the jury of the inquiry and police investigation would be . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Regina CACD 30-Jul-2007
The newspaper and other media companies appealed from an order restricting the reporting of parts of the evidence given in a trial for an offence under the 1989 Act. The objected that the order did not serve, as required, to protect any proceedings, . .
Cited – Regina v Horsham Justices ex parte Farquharson CA 1982
The Court was asked whether the justices had had power under section 4(2) to impose reporting restrictions on committal proceedings pending the trial to which they related..
Held: They had. A premature publication in contravention of a . .
Cited – Lu v Solicitors Regulation Authority Admn 6-Jul-2022
No Unmnecessary Anoniymity
The appellant, having been acquitted of misconduct, complained of the anonymisation of various partied by the SDT.
Held: The court was critical of the approach taken by the Tribunal. ‘I see no good reason why Ms Pearson, Ms Stone, Mr Ewing and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 July 2022; Ref: scu.175469
An order had been made for the trial of the defendant on a charge of murder to be held excluding both press and public. The Order had been made in the interests of national security and for the protection of the identity of a witness or other person.
Held: The order was upheld.
Lord Phillips CJ, Silber and Underhill JJ
[2008] EWCA Crim 269
England and Wales
Cited – A and Others, Regina v; Regina v The Crown Court at the Central Criminal Court ex parte A Times Newspapers Ltd etc CACD 13-Jan-2006
The defendant was to be charged with offences associated with terrorism. He had sought stay of the trial as an abuse of process saying that he had been tortured by English US and Pakistani authorities. The judge made an order as to what parts of the . .
See Also – Yam v Regina CACD 5-Oct-2010
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder saying that since part of the trial had been in camera the result was unsafe.
Held: The appeal failed. The Court addressed submissions advanced on his behalf indicating how substantially . .
See Also – Yam v Attorney General Misc 27-Feb-2014
Central Criminal Court . .
See Also – Yam, Regina (on The Application of) v Central Criminal Court and Another Admn 31-Oct-2014
The claimant had been convicted of murder after evidence was given in camera. He sought to apply to the ECHR challenging the fairness of the trial, arguing that he needed and shoudl be free to use the material given in camera.
Held: The . .
See Also – Wang Yam, Regina (on The Application of) v Central Criminal Court and Another SC 16-Dec-2015
The appellant was to apply to the ECHR challenge the fairness of his trial because it was held partially in camera. The UK resisted this application. The appellant sought to be permitted in his response to disclose and refer to contents of the . .
Cited – Wang Yam, Regina (on The Application of) v Central Criminal Court and Another SC 16-Dec-2015
The appellant was to apply to the ECHR challenge the fairness of his trial because it was held partially in camera. The UK resisted this application. The appellant sought to be permitted in his response to disclose and refer to contents of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.265921
The claimant challenged seizure of cash he was carrying. The court had concluded from its volume that it represented the proceeds of crime.
Held: Carnwath LJ said: ‘I agree with Sullivan J (in Green) that the Director need not allege the commission of any specific criminal offence, provided there are set out the matters alleged to constitute ‘the particular kind or kinds of unlawful conduct’ by or in return for which the property was obtained. This approach in my view follows from the wording of the Act. Use of the term ‘unlawful conduct’, rather than reference to a criminal offence or offences, is a clear indication that the power is not so restricted. The Green approach was in effect endorsed by this court in Szepietowski.’
Carnwath LJ
[2008] EWCA Civ 104, [2008] CP Rep 24, [2008] Lloyds Rep FC 253
England and Wales
Cited – Director of Assets Recovery Agency and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Green and others Admn 16-Dec-2005
The defendant challenged the making of civil orders for recovery of what were alleged to be the proceeds of crime. They complained that no specific offence had been made out. The court was asked, as a preliminary issue: ‘Whether a claim for civil . .
Cited – Wiese v The UK Border Agency Admn 29-Jun-2012
The claimant challenged a decision to seize a sustantial sum of cash being carried by him whilst passing through London City Airport. In the magistrates court, the claimant had objected to the reliance on parts of a customs officer’s statement which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.264659
[2008] EWHC 201 (Admin)
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.264589
[2008] EWHC 166 (Admin)
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.264520
The defendant had pleaded guilty in the Crown Court to 20 counts of making or possessing child pornography. No direction was made for withholding the defendant’s identity in court, but the Crown Court made an order in the interest of the defendant’s children prohibiting any publication in the media of material identifying him or his children.
Held: The Crown Court had no power to make such an order.
It is an important aspect of open justice that defendants’ names should be made public. Sir Igor Judge P said: ‘This appeal succeeds on the jurisdiction argument; we must however add that we respectfully disagree with the judge’s further conclusion that the proper balance between the rights of these children under Article 8 and the freedom of the media and public under Article 10 should be resolved in favour of the interests of the child. In our judgment it is impossible to over-emphasise the importance to be attached to the ability of the media to report criminal trials. In simple terms this represents the embodiment of the principle of open justice in a free country. An important aspect of the public interest in the administration of criminal justice is that the identity of those convicted and sentenced for criminal offices should not be concealed. Uncomfortable though it may frequently be for the defendant that is a normal consequence of his crime. Moreover the principle protects his interests too, by helping to secure the fair trial which, in Lord Bingham of Cornhill’s memorable epithet, is the defendant’s ‘birthright’.
From time to time occasions will arise where restrictions on this principle are considered appropriate, but they depend on express legislation, and, where the Court is vested with a discretion to exercise such powers, on the absolute necessity for doing so in the individual case.
It is sad, but true, that the criminal activities of a parent can bring misery, shame, and disadvantage to their innocent children. Innocent parents suffer from the criminal activities of their sons and daughters. Husbands and wives and partners suffer all suffer in the same way. All this represents the further consequences of crime, adding to the list of its victims. Everyone appreciates the risk that innocent children may suffer prejudice and damage when a parent is convicted of a serious offence. Among the consequences the parent will disappear from home when he or she is sentenced to imprisonment, and indeed depending on the crime but as happened in this case, there is always a possibility of the breakdown of the relationship between their parents. However we accept the validity of the simple but telling proposition put by the court reporter to Judge McKinnon on 2 April 2007, that there is nothing in this case to distinguish the plight of the defendant’s children from that of a massive group of children of persons convicted of offences relating to child pornography. If the court were to uphold this ruling so as to protect the rights of the defendant’s children under Article 8, it would be countenancing a substantial erosion of the principle of open justice, to the overwhelming disadvantage of public confidence in the convicted and sentenced in them. Such an order cannot begin to be contemplated unless the circumstances are indeed properly to be described as exceptional.’
Sir Igor Judge P
[2008] EWCA Crim 50, [2008] 2 All ER 1159, [2008] 3 WLR 51, [2008] QB 770, [2009] EMLR 3, [2008] Crim LR 554, [2008] 2 Cr App R 1, Times 13-Feb-2008
England and Wales
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Regina and others CMAC 24-Oct-2008
Anonymity not to be by secret trial
The newspaper appealed against an order for the defendant soldiers’ trial to be held in camera.
Held: Section 94(2) could not be used to provide anonymity. The court relied on its common law powers under which: ‘for us to be entitled to make . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and others v Soldier B CACD 24-Oct-2008
(Court’s Martial Appeal Court) The newspaper appealed against an order under section 94 of the 1955 Act restricting the identification of the defendants. The judge had said there would be a threat to both the safety of the defendants and as to the . .
Cited – Harper and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Aldershot Magistrates Court Admn 8-Jun-2010
Police defendants not to have addresses withheld
The defendants, senior police officers were accused of misconduct in public office, being said to have sought improperly to interfere in prosecutions for speeding. They appealed against refusal by the magistrates to have their addresses protected. . .
Cited – H v A (No2) FD 17-Sep-2015
The court had previously published and then withdrawn its judgment after third parties had been able to identify those involved by pulling together media and internet reports with the judgment.
Held: The judgment case should be published in . .
Cited – PNM v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others SC 19-Jul-2017
No anonymity for investigation suspect
The claimant had been investigated on an allegation of historic sexual abuse. He had never been charged, but the investigation had continued with others being convicted in a high profile case. He appealed from refusal of orders restricting . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.264418
Latham J, Owen J
[2008] EWHC 106 (Admin)
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.264084
The defendants had been sent direct for trial under the section, being charged with indictable only offences, but the prosecution had failed to serve the necessary evidence and documents within the time limit. No application was made by the prosecution to extend the time limit save by a letter which arrived to late to allow the defendants to apply. The defendants issued a writ of habeas corpus.
Held: Nothing in the Act envisaged charges being dismissed for the prosecution’s failure. The Act even envisaged a voluntary indictment being issued if charges were dismissed. A judge has the power to extend the time for service after the limit has expired and even though no application had been made by the prosecution within that limit.
Lord Justice Rose and Mr Justice Gibbs
Times 18-Jul-2002, [2002] EWHC 1295 (Admin
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 51
England and Wales
Cited – Bentham, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Prison Wandsworth Admn 7-Feb-2006
The defendant sought a writ of habeas corpus, saying that he had been wrongfully committed to the crown court under the 1998 Act. The note referred only to a ‘conspiracy without further specification. The crown court had remitted him to the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.174445
The defendant appealed against a forfeiture order, saying that it had been made under the 1990 Act which had been repealed.
Held: The wrong naming of the section did not invalidate the decision.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill LCJ, Dyson J
[1998] EWHC Admin 332
Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990, Drug Trafficking Act 1994
England and Wales
Cited – Finbow v Air Ministry 1963
The minister had mistakenly exercised a formal power to approve a licence to occupy land under a repealed section instead of its re-enacted successor. The claimant said that this was not an effective approval. The court also considered the . .
Cited – Burrells Wharf Freeholds Ltd v Galliard Homes Ltd TCC 1-Jul-1999
The court was aksed to provide pre-action discovery under the rules. The defendant said that the rules were invalid, having been made under an invalid power.
Held: ‘article 5 of the Order would not have been invalidated by a failure to mention . .
Appeal from – Regina v Dover Magistrates’ Court ex parte Norman Lionel Webb CA 15-Jul-1999
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.138453
Appeal against conviction – defendant not produced from prison – trial in absence.
[2015] EWHC 1597 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 July 2022; Ref: scu.549411
The Board appealed by way of case stated against the dismissal of its summons alleging failure by the respondent without reasonable excuse to perform unpaid work as part of his sentence.
Leveson LJ, Cranston J
[2010] EWHC 615 (Admin), [2010] ACD 56, (2010) 174 JP 305
Criminal Justice Act 2003 200(2) 200(4)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.406151
The defendant’s right to a fair trial had been infringed where anonymous police witnesses gave evidence against the defendant in circumstances such that, not only did the defendant know their identities, but he was unable to observe their demeanour under direct questioning, and thus judge their reliability.
Bernhardt, P
21363/93, 21364/93, [1997] ECHR 90
European Convention on Human Rights
See Also – Van Mechelen And Others v The Netherlands ECHR 23-Apr-1997
A Dutch court had convicted the applicants of attempted manslaughter and robbery on the basis of statements made, before their trial, by anonymous police officers, none of whom gave evidence before the Regional Court or the investigating judge. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.263784
Duty of counsel to assist the court
[1865] EngR 42, (1865) 4 F and F 842, (1865) 176 ER 815
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.280954
[2004] EWHC 3271 (Admin)
Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.263501
Each defendant challenged decisions to extend the custody time limits.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill LCJ, Collins J
[1998] EWHC 319 (Admin)
European Convention of Human Rights 5, Bail Act 1976 4(1), Prosecution of Offences (Custody Time Limits) Regulations 1987
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.263518
An application was made for consent to file a voluntary bill against the defendants.
Held: Mr Justice Pitchers said: ‘No application for a voluntary bill is, in form, an appeal from a decision from another court. However, at least when a High Court Judge is considering an application following a refusal of justices to commit for trial, the decision of a lower court is being considered by a judge of a higher court. There may then be scope for taking a broader view of the circumstances in which it is right in effect to overturn the decision of the lower court. That is not this case and I express no further view on the point.
That cannot be said where an application for a voluntary bill is made after dismissal of transferred charges. It happens that the decision in this case was taken by a Circuit Judge but it might well have been taken by another High Court Judge. In those circumstances, it must, in my judgment, be wrong in principle for the prosecution to be able to get round a decision they do not like by inviting another judge to take a different view of the same material that was before the judge who dismissed the charge. In R v The Crown Court at Snaresbrook ex parte the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (1998) LSG 35, the Divisional Court pointed out that Bell J had refused to grant a voluntary bill on the basis that the application was in effect an appeal from one single judge to another single judge whose judgment appeared to be clearly and carefully reasoned. He said it was not obviously wrong or unreasonable.
I make no attempt to list the circumstances in which it might in general be appropriate to invoke the exceptional procedure of applying for a voluntary bill in transferred cases. That said, an obvious example would be if the judge had not had a crucial authority or statutory provision drawn to his attention. The context of this case is that the judge in dismissing the charges took the decision after detailed and careful argument and gave full and clear reasoned judgments. In this case, apart from one point made about the judge’s treatment of one area of evidence, the crown do not really argue he erred in law.
Therefore, to the extent that the crown argue I should come to a different decision from the judge on the same material that was before him, I reject the argument as fundamentally flawed.’
Pichers J
[2005] EWHC 2828 (QB)
England and Wales
Cited – Gadd, Regina v QBD 10-Oct-2014
The prosecutor sought leave to bring a voluntary bill of indictment, to pursue historic sex abuse allegations against the defendant. The defendant objected to counts founded on facts which were the substance of a charge of indecent assault . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.263179
Challenge to decision extending custody time limits.
[2007] EWHC 2804 (Admin)
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.261958
Application for judicial review of decision to extend custody time limits.
[2007] EWHC 2885 (Admin)
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.261932
In 1992, the claimant and members of his family were made subject to restraint orders after his conviction for corruption. They now applied for discharge of the orders claiming excessive delay. Nothing had moved forward since 1996, saying hey had in any event been automatically stayed in 2000.
Held: The delay was unacceptable, and both orders were discharged.
McCombe J
[2007] EWHC 2874 (Admin)
Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 1, European Convention on Human Rights 6
Cited – Lloyds Bowmaker Ltd v Britannia Arrow Holdings Plc CA 1988
It is the duty of a plaintiff who has obtained an interlocutory injunction to proceed to trial and not simply to sit back and rely upon the injunction until such time as the defendant moves to discharge it. The court have stressed the importance of . .
Cited – Biguzzi v Rank Leisure Plc CA 26-Jul-1999
The court’s powers under the new CPR to deal with non-compliance with time limits, were wide enough to allow the court to allow re-instatement of an action previously struck out. The court could find alternative ways of dealing with any delay which . .
Cited – Annodeus Ltd and Others v Gibson and Others ChD 2-Mar-2000
The court listed relevant issues for any strike out application on the grounds of want of prosecution, including the length of delay, the degree of compliance with court rules and orders, any prejudice to the defendant, and any effect on the trial . .
Cited – Crown Prosecution Service v Bentham Admn 2003
At the trial of a substantive claim for declarations of property rights in the context of confiscation proceedings under the 1986 Act, two interested parties sought to dismissal or stay of the claims dismissed for delay. The proceedings went back to . .
Cited – Welch v United Kingdom ECHR 15-Feb-1995
The applicant was convicted in 1988 of drug offences committed in 1986. The judge passed a sentence of imprisonment but imposed a confiscation order pursuant to an Act that came into force in l987.
Held: The concept of penalty in Article 7 was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.261935
Collins J
[2007] EWHC 2938 (Admin)
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.261934
Refusal of permission to appeal to House of Lords.
Clarke LJ, Gibbs, Stanley Burnton JJ
[2005] EWCA Crim 374
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.260090
Application for permission to apply for judicial review to challenge the decision of the defendant, the Ministry of Defence, to try him by way of court martial proceedings in reliance upon a decision of the Solicitor General to extend the statutory time limit within the Armed Forces Act 2006 to prosecute him.
Supperstone J
[2019] EWHC 1209 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.639223
[2012] EWHC 2865 (Admin), [2012] 6 Costs LR 1129
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.465465
The defendant appealed against his conviction, complaining of the judge’s repeated hostile interventions. Lawton LJ said: ‘Time and time again the judge intervened, got an answer and then asked questions on that answer. The impression he must have given was that he was cross-examining on the evidence in-chief as it was being given. It really was most unfortunate.’
Held: The conviction was quashed. The defendant and his witnesses had ‘effectively prevented the defendant or a witness for the defence from telling his story in his own way.’
Lawton LJ
(1973) 58 Cr App R 378
England and Wales
Adopted – Regina v Hamilton CACD 9-Jun-1969
Lord Parker CJ discussed the duties of a judge in a criminal trial: ‘Of course it has been recognised always that it is wrong for a judge to descend into the arena and give the impression of acting as advocate . . Whether his interventions in any . .
Cited – Michel v The Queen (The Court of Appeal of Jersey) PC 4-Nov-2009
michel_rPC2009
(Jersey) The defendant appealed, complaining that the number and character of the judge’s interventions in his trial for money laundering had made it unfair.
Held: The conviction was quashed and the case remitted for a decision as to . .
Cited – Marchant, Regina v CACD 23-Nov-2018
The defendant appealed his conviction for rape saying that the judge had improperly intervened to prevent him presenting his case properly.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. Although the judge had overstepped the proper boundaries in his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.377804
The claimant said that the system for withholding bail in criminal proceedings in Northern Ireland had infringed her human rights. She was accused of murder, had been convicted but that conviction had been overturned and she was awaiting a second trial. She was the mother of triplets aged 6, and the prosecution did not object to bail.
Held: The claim succeeded. There was insufficient clarity as to the reasons for withholding bail. The nearness of a forthcoming trial was not a relevant consideration, and nor in the light of the prosecution’s attitude was it proper to conclude that she might flee.
1271/05, [2007] ECHR 952, Times 28-Nov-2007, [2010] ECHR 986
European Convention on Human Rights 5
Human Rights
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.261415
The claimant had been was arrested on his way home from a protest rally. He was made aware of his rights and expressly declined a lawyer.
Held: As it was his own choice not to have a lawyer, the authorities could not be held responsible for the fact that he was not represented in the proceedings against him. While the nature of some rights safeguarded by the Convention was such as to exclude a waiver of entitlement to exercise them, the same could not be said of other rights. A person had a choice under article 6(3)(c) of defending himself in person or through legal assistance, so it would normally not be contrary to thenrequirements of that article if an accused was self-represented in accordance with his own free will.
Judge Fura-Sandstrom referred to the US case of Miranda, describing the right to be assisted by a lawyer as a bright line rule which nobody should cross and said that its purpose was to neutralise the distinct psychological disadvantage that suspects are under while dealing with the police.
BM Zupancic, President
26986/03, [2007] ECHR 936, (2007) 50 EHRR 618
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
Cited – Miranda v Arizona 10-Oct-1966
(United States Supreme Court) The prosecution may not use statements, whether incriminatory or exculpatory, stemming from custodial interrogation of a defendant unless it demonstrated the use of procedural safeguards which were sufficient to secure . .
Cited – Ambrose v Harris, Procurator Fiscal, Oban, etc SC 6-Oct-2011
(Scotland) The appellant had variously been convicted in reliance on evidence gathered at different stages before arrest, but in each case without being informed of any right to see a solicitor. The court was asked, as a devolution issue, at what . .
Cited – McGowan (Procurator Fiscal) v B SC 23-Nov-2011
The appellant complained that after arrest, though he had been advised of his right to legal advice, and had declined the offer, it was still wrong to have his subsequent interview relied upon at his trial.
Held: It was not incompatible with . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.261414
Challenge to decision to extend custody time limit.
[2007] EWHC 2408 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.260203
Defendants appealed after 4 month long trial: ‘so lengthy and disrupted was the hearing and so inadequate the summing up that the trial was unfair and their convictions unsafe.’
[2007] EWCA Crim 2485
England and Wales
Cited – Woodward and Others, Regina v CACD 13-Jun-2019
The four defendants were to stand trial for murder, the trial being expected to last ten weeks. The jury was selected to allow for this, but when the trial was set to overrun, it had to be adjourned mid-retirement for three weeks and then again to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.260054
[2007] EWHC 2228 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.259840
The Director said the Judge had been wrong to discharge on grounds of want of disclosure a restraint order previously made ex parte under the Proceeds of Crime Act at the request of a foreign investigator.
‘The proper approach is to consider whether the public interest does or does not call for the order to stand, now that the true position is known, and taking into account the previous failure of disclosure. Whether the non-disclosure was deliberate or accidental will be a material factor, although not necessarily determinative. These propositions emerge from a number of cases: see in particular Brink’s Mat v Elcombe [1988] 1WLR 1350, and Jennings v CPS [2005] EWCA Civ 746 at paragraphs 52-57 and 62-64. A similar approach to a different kind of without notice application in aid of a criminal investigation, namely one for the production of special procedure material, was taken in R v Crown Court at Lewes ex p Hill (1991) 93 Cr App R 60 at 69. Whilst it is appropriate to insist on strict compliance with the rule of disclosure, discharge of the order does not necessarily follow as a means of disciplining the applicant, at least absent what Longmore LJ in Jennings referred to as ‘so appalling a failure’ that that ultimate sanction should be applied.’
Hughes LJ, Bean J, Saunders J
[2007] EWCA Crim 1927, [2008] Lloyd’s Rep FC 30
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005
Cited – J v Crown Prosecution Service CA 24-Jun-2005
The defendant had been made subject to a criminal restraint order so as to preserve his assets pending the outcome of criminal proceedings. He complained that the order affected property which was not his.
Held: Such an order could cover . .
Cited – Mercury Tax Group Ltd and Another, Regina (On the Application of) v HM Revenue and Customs and Others Admn 13-Nov-2008
The claimant sought judicial review of the lawfulness of search warrants given to the Commissioners and executed at their various offices. The Revenue had suspect the dishonest implementation of a tax avoidance scheme. The claimants said that there . .
Cited – An Informer v A Chief Constable CA 29-Feb-2012
The claimant appealed against dismissal of his claim for damages against the police. He had provided them with information, but he said that they had acted negligently and in breach of contract causing him financial loss. The officer handling his . .
Cited – Mills and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Sussex Police and Another Admn 25-Jul-2014
The claimants faced criminal charges involving allegations of fraud and corruption. They now challenged by judicial review a search and seizure warrant saying that it was unlawful. A restraint order had been made against them and they had complied . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.258525
The applicant had been convicted of serious criminal offences. There were admitted into evidence intercepts of messages to his pager. He complained that this infringed his right to respect for his private correspondence.
Held: The pager messages were correspondence. The UK legislation covering interception of correspondence did not apply to such materials, and accordingly any interception was not under a regime which was ‘in accordance with law’ as required, and infringed his rights.
J-P Cost, Bratza, Loucaides, Birsan, Jungwiert, Butkevych, Thomassen
Times 31-Oct-2002, 47114/99, [2002] ECHR 686
European Convention on Human Rights Art 8
Human Rights
Cited – Wood v United Kingdom ECHR 16-Nov-2004
Police officers had placed suspects in a cell together and covertly recorded their conversation in order to obtain evidence against them. The events took place in 1999.
Held: The recording was outside any legal system of control and interefred . .
Cited – Amwell View School v Dogherty EAT 15-Sep-2006
amwell_dogherty
The claimant had secretly recorded the disciplinary hearings and also the deliberations of the disciplinary panel after their retirement. The tribunal had at a case management hearing admitted the recordings as evidence, and the defendant appealed, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.177817
Lloyd Jones LJ
[2012] EWHC 2837 (Admin), [2013] 1 WLR 2171, [2012] WLR(D) 283
England and Wales
Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.465049