Complaint was made that the child detained in a Young Offender Institute had, because of his challenging behaviour been held in effective solitary confinement.
Ouseley J
[2017] EWHC 1694 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.588898
The appellants challenged dismissal of their claims for judicial review of their detention following conviction and for alleged breaches by the respondent of public law duty and violation of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Each complained of the delays in their release following decisions by the Parole Board for licensed release.
Sir Terence Etherton MR. McCombe LJ, Sir Ernest Ryder SPT
[2017] EWCA Civ 2181
Eurpean Convention on Hman Rights
England and Wales
Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.602601
The claimant complained that the revocation of his home detention licence under section 255 was an infringement of his human rights.
Held: There had been no deprivation of liberty.
Collins J said: ‘In my judgment, having regard to the various authorities, it would be wrong for me to decide that Article 5(4) does apply in the situation that exists here. Accordingly, as it seems to me, the provisions of section 255(2) are not incompatible with the Convention. There is no right to have a consideration of the lawfulness of the detention since it is covered by the determinate sentence passed by the court. One can perhaps justify that by saying that it is simply the means whereby the sentence of the court is to be served. It may be in a closed prison. It may be in an open prison. It may equally be by means of a licence and tagging which itself involves a degree of restriction on liberty. Indeed, one has to note that there is a decision in relation to control orders whereby alleged terrorists have orders made, which involve tagging and curfew, and those can amount to deprivation of liberty within the meaning of Article 5 if the conditions are severe enough to justify it . . But that makes plain that this sort of licence involving tagging and curfew orders is capable of being regarded as a deprivation of liberty. It certainly is less than freedom, so far as the individual is concerned. In those circumstances, as it seems to me, it can properly be regarded as a manner in which the sentence is being served in the same way as, as I have said, open prison or closed prison. That may well be a way of justifying the distinction to be drawn between it and the situation where there has to be a release on licence and the licence cannot and does not contain such severe measures as are appropriate in release under section 246.’
Collins J
[2007] EWHC 2055 (Admin)
Criminal Justice Act 2003 246 255, European Convention on Human Rights 5(4)
England and Wales
Applied – McAlinden, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department Admn 4-May-2010
A section 255 home detention licence revocation does not involve a deprivation of liberty so as to engage Article 5(4). . .
Cited – Whiston, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice CA 25-Oct-2012
The claimant was a prisoner released on a home detention licence, but his licence had been revoked. He now said that the way it had been revoked, without the respondent’s decision being subject to confirmation by the Parole Board, nor to other . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.259646
[2017] EWHC 3022 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.601428
Complaints as to immigration detention
[2017] EWHC 2809 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.601107
[2017] EWHC 3007 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599711
The appellant social worker appealed from a refusal to release under the 2006 Act of an unredacted copy of the MOJ Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint training manual. The MOJ argued that full disclosure might allow inmates to develop counter techniques.
Held: The appeal failed.
Sir Brian Leveson P, McCombe, Nwey LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1876
Freedom of Information Act 2000
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599605
Claim for judicial review of a decision of the Parole Board.
[2019] EWHC 116 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.633152
Reason for success of challenge to recall of claimant to prison
Dinah Rose QC
[2017] EWHC 2822 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599406
[2017] ScotCS CSOH – 140
Scotland
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598934
[2017] ScotCS CSIH – 62
Scotland
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598632
[2017] EWHC 2612 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598387
Adjourned hearing of two joined applications against decisions to order the extradition of individuals to Belgium pursuant to European arrest warrants. The decisions are challenged on the basis that prison conditions in Belgium violate the appellants’ rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Hamblen LJ, Ouseley J
[2017] EWHC 1981 (Admin)
European Convention on Human Rights 3
England and Wales
Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.593602
[2017] ScotCS CSOH – 110
Scotland
Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.593088
Outer House – Judicial Review of decisions by the respondents relating to the removal of the petitioner from association with other prisoners
Lord Jones
[2013] ScotCS CSOH – 106
Scotland
Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.512062
The defendant had been convicted of murder. On appeal a conviction of manslaughter had been substituted, and a new sentence substituted. The parole board had come to consider his early release.
Held: The remarks of the judge at the trial should now be given less weight than those of the later sentencing exercise. In this case the board had incorrectly declined to admit the record of the later hearing,but had themselves later cnfirmed that having now read it, it would not have made a difference to their decision against early release.
Maurice Kay, J
Times 15-May-2003
England and Wales
Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.182417
Claim for judicial review is the legality of the decision of the Defendant to refuse to direct the release of the Claimant from prison on compassionate grounds relating to the health of his mother.
Pushpinder Saini QC DJHC
[2017] EWHC 1967 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591658
Application for judicial review of the failure of the Defendant to consult upon, and then exercise, the power within section 128 of the 2012 Act as a means of relaxing the test for the release of prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection
[2017] EWHC 1948 (Admin)
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
England and Wales
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591663
Challenge to failure to hold an oral hearing on decision to maintain the prisoner’s classification.
Karen Steyn QC DHCJ
[2017] EWHC 1826 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591232
Appeal from refusal of judicial review of date set for release from prison – release on home detention curfew
Gross, Lindblom, Flaux LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 989, [2017] WLR(D) 495
England and Wales
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591187
Failure on the part of the Parole Board (occasioned by the huge pressures which it is under) to convene a required hearing within the timetable set by the Parole Board Rules.
Gloster VP CA, Davis, Beatson LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1074, [2017] WLR(D) 499
England and Wales
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591184
The claimant said that whilst held in a high security prison, he had been allowed only 30 minutes in the open air a day rather than the minimum of one hour.
Sweeney J
[2010] EWHC 3389 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.427411
Appeal by D, a former prisoner serving a life sentence at HMP Manchester who was eventually released from custody on licence on 30 March 2015. He had previously been released on licence in February 2011, but was recalled to prison in October 2012 following his arrest on charges of involvement in offences of murder, attempted murder and causing an explosion. After a five month trial he was acquitted of those charges, but remained in custody pending further consideration of his case by the parole board.
Raffery, Sir Ernest Ryder SPT, Henderson LJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 961
England and Wales
Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.589926
Claim for judicial review, the Claimant challenges the lawfulness of the Defendant’s decisions to detain him in February 2016, and to continue to detain him until March 2016, when he was released.
[2017] EWHC 1494 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588891
Whether immigration detention had been unlawful.
[2017] EWHC 1391 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588866
[2017] EWHC 742 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588824
The Claimants sought to challenge ‘the Defendants’ failures to comply with their public law, common law and article 2 ECHR duties to protect prisoners at HMP Woodhill from suicide’, failures which they contended were ‘ongoing’, including a declaration that the Defendants had breached those duties and an order requiring them to comply with the mandatory provisions of national prison policy.
Irwin LJ, Garnham J
[2017] EWHC 1194 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 26 March 2022; Ref: scu.584236
[2009] NIQB 5
Northern Ireland
Updated: 25 March 2022; Ref: scu.346477
A single letter had not been sent on from a prisoner to the Scottish Minister of State. A violation of article 8 was found. The interference was not ‘in accordance with the law’ nor ‘necessary in a democratic society’ for any reason permitted by article 8(2). However, the annoyance and frustration from the failure to send this one letter was not of an intensity to justify awarding damages and so the court considered that finding of violation was sufficient just satisfaction.
[2011] ECHR 602
European Convention on Human Rights 8
Human Rights
See Also – William Faulkner v The United Kingdom ECHR 4-Jun-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings . .
Cited – Bruton v The Governor of HMP Swaleside and Another Admn 19-Apr-2017
The prisoner complained that his protected correspondence had been wrongfully opened by prison staff. Despite a finding in his favour by the Prisons Ombudsman, the service had repeatedly failed either to change its behaviour or to apologise.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582169
The prisoner complained that his protected correspondence had been wrongfully opened by prison staff. Despite a finding in his favour by the Prisons Ombudsman, the service had repeatedly failed either to change its behaviour or to apologise.
Held: The complaint was established: ‘The repetitive nature of the alleged breaches suggests serious shortcomings in the mail handling systems at HMP Swaleside. There are admissions in the Defendants’ own evidence of staff shortages but they do not, of course, explain the continuing failure over many months and it is plain that training has been wholly inadequate and the evidence clearly establishes a lack of knowledge of the regime. The Prison’s records demonstrate persistent non application of the Rule 39/Confidential Access regime and the records in the form of the opened in error log are such that the Defendants are simply not able to rely on the absence of an entry as being of any evidential value. ‘
McKenna J
[2017] EWHC 704 (Admin)
The Prison Rules 1999 39, European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Cited – McCombe v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Nov-1985
The Commission declared admissible the complaints of a prisoner regarding the censorship of his correspondence with his solicitors. (Settlement: the United Kingdom government agreed to issue instructions that such correspondence would not be opened, . .
Cited – Ryder v United Kingdom ECHR 19-Jan-1989
The Commission considered whether a prisoner whose rule 39 mail had been opened on 3 occasions in a 15 day period with a further letter having gone missing altogether claimed to be a victim of a violation of article 8.
Held: Inadmissible. The . .
Cited – Demirtepe v France ECHR 21-Dec-1999
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection rejected (non-exhaustion); Violation of Art. 8; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings
Cited – Touroude v France ECHR 3-Oct-2000
A single letter to a prisoner had been wrongfully opened by mistake.
Held: A distinction was drawn from a case where, by reason of their repetition, incidents had revealed a malfunctioning of the mail service within the prison interfering with . .
Cited – Armstrong v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Jul-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8; Violation of Art. 13; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient
Four Rule 39 letters had been opened over a 5 month period.
Cited – William Faulkner v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-Mar-2011
A single letter had not been sent on from a prisoner to the Scottish Minister of State. A violation of article 8 was found. The interference was not ‘in accordance with the law’ nor ‘necessary in a democratic society’ for any reason permitted by . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582144
‘This case concerns the standard of procedural fairness required to be observed by the Secretary of State’s Category A Review Team (‘the CART’) and the Deputy Director of Custody – High Security (‘the Director’) and his advisory panel when deciding whether to maintain a prisoner’s security classification in prison as Category A.’
Black, Sales, Moylan LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 331, [2017] WLR(D) 304
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582107
62303/13 (Judgment (Merits and Just Satisfaction) : Court (Fifth Section)), [2016] ECHR 725, 62303/13 (Fifth Section), [2017] ECHR 370, (2017) 64 EHRR 19
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582076
Lewis J
[2017] EWHC 727 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581634
[2017] EWHC 728 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581626
The claimant challenged being recalled to prison from licence after being found in an area from which he was excluded as a condition of his parole.
Turner J
[2017] EWHC 729 (Admin)
European Convention on Human Rights 5, Criminal Justice Act 2003 244 254
England and Wales
Cited – Whiston, Regina (on The Application of) SC 2-Jul-2014
The claimant, having been released from prison on licence, objected to the procedure whereby his licence was revoked with no means for him to challenge that decision.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. Article 5(4) did not apply to the particular . .
Cited – Quinn v Leathem HL 5-Aug-1901
Unlawful Means Conspiracy has two forms
Quinn was treasurer of a Belfast butchers’ association. Leathem, who traded as a butcher, employed some non-union men, although when the union made difficulties he asked for them to be admitted to the union, and offered to pay their dues. The union . .
Cited – Behrens v Bartram Mill Circus QBD 1957
Devlin J said that the ratio decidendi consists of the reason or reasons for a decision which the judge who gives it wishes to have the full authority of precedent. . .
Dicta approved – Kadhim v Housing Benefit Board, London Borough of Brent CA 20-Dec-2000
A lower court was not bound to follow a decision of a higher court, where the decision at issue had been based, on the relevant point, on an unargued assumption about the law, which had in turn been pivotal to the decision of that higher court: ‘The . .
Cited – Lawrence v South Country Freeholds Ltd ChD 1939
Simonds J held that on the facts before him no general scheme of development existed. It was accordingly not necessary to determine what rights as between the sub-purchasers there might have been if the main scheme had been held to exist. However, . .
Dicta approved – Brunner v Greenslade ChD 1971
Megarry J discussed the ratio decidendi of and approving dicta in Lawrence.
‘The substance of the views of Simonds J was that where there is a head scheme, any sub-purchasers are bound inter se by the covenants of that head scheme even though . .
Cited – Practice Statement (Judicial Precedent) HL 1966
The House gave guidance how it would treat an invitation to depart from a previous decision of the House. Such a course was possible, but the direction was not an ‘open sesame’ for a differently constituted committee to prefer their views to those . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board ex parte Smith, Regina v Parole Board ex parte West (Conjoined Appeals) HL 27-Jan-2005
Each defendant challenged the way he had been treated on revocation of his parole licence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to make oral representations.
Held: The prisoners’ appeals were allowed.
Lord Bingham stated: . .
Cited – Black, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice HL 21-Jan-2009
The appellant complained that the system for considering the release of a life prisoner did not comply with the Convention when the decision was made by the Secretary of State and not by the Parole Board, or the court. The Board had recommended his . .
Cited – Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd v Zodiac Seats UK Ltd SC 3-Jul-2013
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd sought to recover damages exceeding 49,000,000 pounds for the infringement of a European Patent which did not exist in the form said to have been infringed. The Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581637
[2017] EWHC 658 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581632
Application for injunction to restrain proposed work to rule by prison officers.
Leggatt J
[2017] EWHC 699 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581412
Challenge by way of judicial review to the decision made by a psychiatrist at Oxleas, the first respondent, which operates a Medium Secure Unit for psychiatric patients in Dartford, Kent, to seek to transfer the claimant to Broadmoor Hospital and the decision of Broadmoor to accept him.
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, CJ, Hallett, Underhill LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 203
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581300
Claim for unlawful detention under immigration powers
Philip Mott QC
[2017] EWHC 507 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581099
Lang DBE J
[2017] EWHC 550 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581094
Appeal against conviction (on plea) of smuggling drugs and mobile SIM cards into prison. His defence statement indicated that he had acted under pressure and in ignorance.
Held: The appeal failed. A charge under either section 40B(1)(a) or section 40C(1)(a) of the Prison Act 1952 was proved once it was established that the defendant knew he was carrying something prohibited into the prison. He did not need that he knew precisely what it was, but only it was a package containing prohibited material.
Rafferty LJ, Morris J, McCreath Rec Westminster
[2017] EWCA Crim 189, [2017] WLR(D) 170
England and Wales
Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.580923
Challenge to lawfulness of immigration detention
[2017] EWHC 481 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.580908
Challenge to change in prison rules preventing he applicant passing his prison earnings to his daughter.
[2010] NIQB 45
Northern Ireland
Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.415992
The claimant had sought to challenge his continued detention in prison when his situation should have been reviewed but had not been. As a lifer he had served the time set in his tariff.
Held: The applicant was unlawfully at large and had not appeared. The claim was dismissed.
Blair J
[2009] EWHC 1507 (Admin)
England and Wales
At First Instance – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Appeal from – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice The Parole Board CA 14-Dec-2010
The claimant sought damages saying that his detention in prison beyond the minimum period pending a review was unlawful when that review was delayed. He now appealed against dismissal of his claim when he had not appeared at court, being unlawfully . .
Appeal from – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice The Parole Board CA 29-Mar-2011
The court considered the approriate level of damages where the claimant’s detention had been wrongly extended through a failure to hold a timely review of his continued detention.
Held: A sum of andpound;10,000 was awarded. The court should . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.347305
A yacht was damaged by boys who had escaped from the supervision of prison officers in a nearby Borstal institution. The boat owners sued the Home Office alleging negligence by the prison officers.
Held: Any duty of a borstal officer to use reasonable care to prevent a borstal trainee from escaping from his custody, was owed only to persons whom he could reasonably foresee had property situated in the vicinity of the place of detention of the detainee, and which the detainee was likely to steal or to appropriate and damage in the course of eluding immediate pursuit and capture. Where human action forms one of the links between the original wrongdoing of the defendant and the plaintiff’s loss that action must ‘at least have been something very likely to happen if it is not to be regarded as novus actus interveniens breaking the chain of causation.’
Lord Reid said: ‘there must come a stage when the discretion is exercised so carelessly or unreasonably that there has been no real exercise of the discretion which Parliament has conferred. The person purporting to exercise his discretion has acted in abuse or excess of his power. Parliament cannot be supposed to have granted immunity to persons who do that.’
Lord Diplock described the process by which a legal principle was to be derived from authority, describing it as inductive, testing the characteristics of the cases: ‘This analysis leads to a proposition which can be stated in the form:
‘In all the decisions that have been analysed a duty of care has been held to exist wherever the conduct and the relationship possessed each of the characteristics A, B, C, D, etc, and has not so far been found to exist when any of these characteristics were absent.’
For the second stage, which is deductive and analytical, that proposition is converted to: ‘In all cases where the conduct and relationship possess each of the characteristics A, B, C, D, etc, a duty of care arises.’ The conduct and relationship involved in the case for decision is then analysed to ascertain whether they possess each of these characteristics. If they do the conclusion follows that a duty of care does arise in the case for decision’
Reid, Morris of Borth-y-Guest, Pearson, Diplock, LL, Viscount Dilhorne
[1970] AC 1004, [1970] 2 WLR 1140, [1970] 2 All ER 94, [1970] UKHL 2
England and Wales
Appeal from – Dorset Yacht Co Ltd v Home Office CA 1969
. .
Cited – Donoghue (or M’Alister) v Stevenson HL 26-May-1932
Decomposed Snail in Ginger Beer Bottle – Liability
The appellant drank from a bottle of ginger beer manufactured by the defendant. She suffered injury when she found a half decomposed snail in the liquid. The glass was opaque and the snail could not be seen. The drink had been bought for her by a . .
Cited – Geddis v Proprietors of Bann Reservoir HL 18-Feb-1878
The owner of land injured by operations authorised by statute ‘suffers a private loss for the public benefit’, and in the absence of clear statutory authority is unable to claim: ‘It is now thoroughly well established that no action will lie for . .
Cited – Anns and Others v Merton London Borough Council HL 12-May-1977
The plaintiff bought her apartment, but discovered later that the foundations were defective. The local authority had supervised the compliance with Building Regulations whilst it was being built, but had failed to spot the fault. The authority . .
Cited – K v the Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 31-May-2002
The applicant sought damages from the defendant who had released from custody pending deportation a man convicted of violent sexual crimes and who had then raped her. She appealed against a strike out of her claim. She had been refused information . .
Cited – Mutual Life And Citizens’ Assurance Co Ltd And Another v Evatt PC 16-Nov-1971
The plaintiff had been an investor with the defendant. He asked them about an associated company. He was given advice which was incorrect. He claimed damages for negligence.
Held: The company was not itself in the business of giving such . .
Cited – British Railways Board v Herrington HL 16-Feb-1972
Land-owner’s Possible Duty to Trespassers
The plaintiff, a child had gone through a fence onto the railway line, and been badly injured. The Board knew of the broken fence, but argued that they owed no duty to a trespasser.
Held: Whilst a land-owner owes no general duty of care to a . .
Cited – Osman v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Oct-1998
Police’s Complete Immunity was Too Wide
(Grand Chamber) A male teacher developed an obsession with a male pupil. He changed his name by deed poll to the pupil’s surname. He was required to teach at another school. The pupil’s family’s property was subjected to numerous acts of vandalism, . .
Cited – Chagos Islanders v The Attorney General, Her Majesty’s British Indian Ocean Territory Commissioner QBD 9-Oct-2003
The Chagos Islands had been a British dependent territory since 1814. The British government repatriated the islanders in the 1960s, and the Ilois now sought damages for their wrongful displacement, misfeasance, deceit, negligence and to establish a . .
Cited – Dutton v Bognor Regis Urban District Council CA 1972
The court considered the liability in negligence of a Council whose inspector had approved a building which later proved defective.
Held: The Council had control of the work and with such control came a responsibility to take care in . .
Cited – Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire HL 28-Apr-1987
No General ty of Care Owed by Police
The mother of a victim of the Yorkshire Ripper claimed in negligence against the police alleging that they had failed to satisfy their duty to exercise all reasonable care and skill to apprehend the perpetrator of the murders and to protect members . .
Cited – Mullaney v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police CA 15-May-2001
The claimant police officer was severely injured making an arrest. He claimed damages from the respondent for contributory negligence of other officers in failing to come to his assistance.
Held: If a police officer owes a duty of care to . .
Applied – Tate and Lyle Industries Ltd v Greater London Council HL 24-Mar-1983
The plaintiff had constructed and used two jetties, and dredged a channel down to the Thames for their use. The Council constructed two terminals nearby, the result of which was to cause a build up of silt blocking the channel.
Held: The . .
Applied – Peabody Donation Fund v Sir Lindsay Parkinson and Co Ltd HL 18-Oct-1983
Architects proposed a system of flexible drains for a site, but the contractors persuaded them to accept rigid drains which once laid proved inadequate at considerable cost. The local authority had permitted the departure from the plans.
Held: . .
Cited – Smith v Littlewoods Organisation Limited (Chief Constable, Fife Constabulary, third party); Maloco v Littlewoods Organisation Ltd HL 1987
The defendant acquired a semi derelict cinema with a view to later development of the site. A fire started by others spread to the pursuer’s adjoining property.
Held: The defendants were not liable in negligence. The intervention of a third . .
Cited – The Attorney General v Hartwell PC 23-Feb-2004
PC (The British Virgin Islands) A police officer had taken the police revolver, and used it to shoot the claimant. It was alleged that the respondent police force were vicariously liable for his acts and also . .
Cited – Binod Sutradhar v Natural Environment Research Council CA 20-Feb-2004
The defendant council had carried out research into a water supply in India in the 1980s. The claimant drank the water, and claimed damages for having consumed arsenic in it.
Held: There is a close link between the tests in law for proximity . .
Cited – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council HL 1-Apr-2004
Statutory Duty Not Extended by Common Law
The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down.
Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include . .
Cited – Regina v Lam and Others (T/a ‘Namesakes of Torbay’) and Borough of Torbay CA 30-Jul-1997
The claimant sought damages after the planning authority allowed the first defendant to conduct a manufacturing business in the course of which spraying activities took place which caused them personal injuries and loss of business.
Held: The . .
Cited – Hertfordshire Police v Van Colle; Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 30-Jul-2008
Police Obligations to Witnesses is Limited
A prosecution witness was murdered by the accused shortly before his trial. The parents of the deceased alleged that the failure of the police to protect their son was a breach of article 2.
Held: The House was asked ‘If the police are alerted . .
Cited – Mitchell and Another v Glasgow City Council HL 18-Feb-2009
(Scotland) The pursuers were the widow and daughter of a tenant of the respondent who had been violently killed by his neighbour. They said that the respondent, knowing of the neighbour’s violent behaviours had a duty of care to the deceased and . .
Cited – Glaister and Others v Appelby-In-Westmorland Town Council CA 9-Dec-2009
The claimant was injured when at a horse fair. A loose horse kicked him causing injury. They claimed in negligence against the council for licensing the fair without ensuring that public liability insurance. The Council now appealed agaiinst a . .
Cited – Prudential Plc and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Another SC 23-Jan-2013
The appellants resisted disclosure to the revenue of advice it had received. It claimed legal advice privilege (LAP), though the advice was from its accountants.
Held: (Lords Sumption and Clarke dissenting) LAP applies to all communications . .
Cited – Woodland v Essex County Council SC 23-Oct-2013
The claimant had been seriously injured in an accident during a swimming lesson. She sought to claim against the local authority, and now appealed against a finding that it was not responsible, having contracted out the provision of swimming . .
Cited – Michael and Others v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police and Another SC 28-Jan-2015
The claimants asserted negligence in the defendant in failing to provide an adequate response to an emergency call, leading, they said to the death of their daughter at the hands of her violent partner. They claimed also under the 1998 Act. The . .
Cited – Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police SC 8-Feb-2018
Limits to Police Exemption from Liability
The claimant, an elderly lady was bowled over and injured when police were chasing a suspect through the streets. As they arrested him they fell over on top of her. She appealed against refusal of her claim in negligence.
Held: Her appeal . .
Cited – Vedanta Resources Plc and Another v Lungowe and Others SC 10-Apr-2019
The claimants alleged negligence causing them personal injury and other losses arising from pollution from mining operations of the defendants in Zambia. The company denied jurisdiction. In the Court of Appeal the defendants’ appeals were dismissed. . .
Cited – Poole Borough Council v GN and Another SC 6-Jun-2019
This appeal is concerned with the liability of a local authority for what is alleged to have been a negligent failure to exercise its social services functions so as to protect children from harm caused by third parties. The principal question of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 February 2022; Ref: scu.179786
Grand Chamber – The appellant claimed damages for being held in prison beyond the term of his sentence. Having been released on licence from a life sentence for murder, he was re-sentenced for a cheque fraud. He was not released after the end of the sentence he served for that offence. He said there was no evidence that he would continue to be a danger, and that the system provided no way for him to test his continued detention.
Held: There was a breach of his human rights. There was no sufficient connection between his original conviction for murder and any risk that he might commit further non-violent offences after release. He was awarded damages for his unlawful detention. It is wrong to regard a sentence of life imprisonment as a sentence that the prisoner be imprisoned for life. It was never anticipated that prisoners serving mandatory life sentences would in fact stay in prison for life, save in exceptional cases. That was demonstrated by developments that had been taking place in England in the management of life sentences. The mandatory life sentence does not impose imprisonment for life as a punishment and that the tariff, which reflects the individual circumstances of the offence and the offender, represents the element of punishment. ‘It is of crucial importance that the Convention is interpreted and applied in a manner which renders its rights practical and effective, not theoretical and illusory’
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-1; Violation of Art. 5-4; Pecuniary damage – financial award; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses award
L Wildhaber P, C L Rozakis, J-P. Costa, Sir Nicolas Bratza, A. Pastor Ridruejo, E. Palm, P. Kuris, R. Turmen, F. Tulkens, K. Jungwiert, V. Butkevych, N. Vajic etc
Times 31-May-2002, 46295/99, ECHR 2–2-iv, [2002] 35 EHRR 1121, [2002] ECHR 466, [2002] ECHR 470, [2002] Crim LR 828, [2002] Po LR 181, [2002] 35 EHRR 32, 13 BHRC 260
European Convention on Human Rights 5.1 5.4, Criminal Justice Act 1991 35(2)
Human Rights
Appeal from – Regina v Secretary of State For The Home Department Ex Parte Stafford HL 12-Mar-1998
The Home Secretary had the right not to follow a Parole Board’s recommendation to release a prisoner after the service of the tariff part of his sentence, where he was satisfied that the offender would commit further offences, even if those offences . .
Cited – Weeks v The United Kingdom ECHR 2-Mar-1987
The applicant, aged 17, was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to life imprisonment in the interests of public safety, being considered by the trial judge on appeal to be dangerous.
Held: ‘The court agrees with the Commission and the . .
Applied – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department Ex parte Anderson HL 25-Nov-2002
The appellant had been convicted of double murder. The judge imposed a mandatory life sentence with a minimum recommended term. The Home Secretary had later increased the minimum term under the 1997 Act. The appellant challenged that increase.
Cited – Easterbrook v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Jun-2003
The prisoner was convicted of an armed robbery in which a policeman had been shot, and had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge set no tariff himself. The tariff was set by the Home Secretary, but only after some time. The discretionary . .
Cited – Murray v The Parole Board Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 6-Nov-2003
The applicant had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He had twice previously been released on licence and had his licence revoked. His tarriff had expired The period between reviews of his detention had been two years, but . .
Appealed to – Regina v Secretary of State For The Home Department Ex Parte Stafford HL 12-Mar-1998
The Home Secretary had the right not to follow a Parole Board’s recommendation to release a prisoner after the service of the tariff part of his sentence, where he was satisfied that the offender would commit further offences, even if those offences . .
Cited – Flynn, Meek, Nicol and McMurray v Her Majesty’s Advocate PC 18-Mar-2004
PC (High Court of Justiciary) The applicants had each been convicted of murder, and complained that the transitional provisions for determining how long should be served under the life sentences infringed their . .
Cited – Hill v The United Kingdom ECHR 27-Apr-2004
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-4 ; Violation of Art. 5-5 ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award ; Costs and expenses partial award
The claimant had been convicted of . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board CA 28-Jul-2004
The discretionary life-prisoner faced a parole board. The Secretary of State wished to present evidence, but wanted the witness to be protected. The Parole Board appointed special counsel to hear the evidence on behalf of the prisoner on terms that . .
Cited – Hirst v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 6-Jul-2006
The prisoner had been released on licence but then recalled. He complained that the procedure infringed his human rights. He had been convicted of manslaughter, and was seen to be a long term danger. The court awarded him compensation saying that . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v Walker; Same v James CA 1-Feb-2008
The claimant had been sentenced to a short period of imprisonment but with an indeterminate term until he demonstrated that it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public. He complained that the term having expired, no opportunity had . .
Cited – Brooke and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v The Parole Board and Another CA 1-Feb-2008
The claimant prisoner complained that the Parole Board was insufficiently independent of government to provide a fair hearing. The court at first instance had found that the relationship between the Parole Board and the sponsoring Department put the . .
Cited – Black, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice HL 21-Jan-2009
The appellant complained that the system for considering the release of a life prisoner did not comply with the Convention when the decision was made by the Secretary of State and not by the Parole Board, or the court. The Board had recommended his . .
Cited – Goodwin v The United Kingdom ECHR 11-Jul-2002
The claimant was a post operative male to female trans-sexual. She claimed that her human rights were infringed when she was still treated as a man for National Insurance contributions purposes, where she continued to make payments after the age at . .
Cited – Whiston, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice CA 25-Oct-2012
The claimant was a prisoner released on a home detention licence, but his licence had been revoked. He now said that the way it had been revoked, without the respondent’s decision being subject to confirmation by the Parole Board, nor to other . .
Cited – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Cited – Sturnham, Regina (on The Application of) v The Parole Board of England and Wales and Another (No 2) SC 3-Jul-2013
From 4 April 2005 until 3 December 2012, English law provided for the imposition of sentences of imprisonment for public protection (‘IPP’). The Court addressed the practical and legal issues resulting from the new system.
Held: The decision . .
Cited – Martin Corey, Re for Judicial Review SC 4-Dec-2013
The appellant challenged his recall to prison from licence. He had been convicted in 1973 of the murder of two police officers. He had remained at liberty for 18 years, befire his licence was revoked on the basis of confidential iintelligence . .
Cited – Haney and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Justice SC 10-Dec-2014
The four claimants, each serving indeterminate prison sentences, said that as they approached the times when thy might apply for parol, they had been given insufficient support and training to meet the requirements for release. The courts below had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 February 2022; Ref: scu.172162
[2005] NIQB 31
Northern Ireland
Updated: 07 February 2022; Ref: scu.224603
Kerr LCJ, Nicholson LJ and Campbell LJ
[2005] NICA 15
Northern Ireland
Updated: 07 February 2022; Ref: scu.224133
Application for judicial review in relation to decisions of the Governor of Her Majesty’s Prison Wakefield and the Secretary of State for Justice that he remain incarcerated at Her Majesty’s Prison Wakefield. Permission to apply for judicial review has been granted on one sole ground, namely that the defendants’ decisions failed to pay proper regard to the claimant’s Article 8 rights.
Jay J
[2015] EWHC 1014 (Admin)
European Convention on Human Rigts 8
England and Wales
Updated: 06 February 2022; Ref: scu.546878
Kerr J
[2015] EWHC 2761 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 February 2022; Ref: scu.557116
These judicial review proceedings concern a decision by a coroner to leave verdicts of unlawful killing by murder and unlawful killing by gross negligence manslaughter to a jury.
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave
[2012] EWHC 1634 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 February 2022; Ref: scu.461878
Appeal against refusal to reduce prison status from A to B
Lavender J
[2017] EWHC 266 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 February 2022; Ref: scu.577293
Application for judicial review of the Secretary of State’s decision not to transfer the Claimant to an open prison, despite the Parole Board’s recommendation to the contrary
Lavender J
[2017] EWHC 267 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 February 2022; Ref: scu.577301
Claim for judicial review of a decision of the Parole Board refusing to recommend that the Claimant be transferred from closed to open conditions.
[2017] EWHC 295 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 February 2022; Ref: scu.577307
[1837] EngR 288, (1837) 2 M and W 536, (1837) 150 ER 870 (B)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 February 2022; Ref: scu.313405
The prisoner’s solicitor declined to give an undertaking because he considered it to be contrary to his professional duty to his client to disclose all information to
his client about his case.
Held: HH Judge Cotter QC found it unnecessary to adjudicate on the correctness of the solicitor’s approach, but said: ‘In my view it is important, given that Rule 17 expressly provides for release to legal representatives, that the Law Society and Bar Council consider the issue and provide professional guidance on the issue . . ‘
HH Judge Cotter QC
[2021] EWHC 128 (Admin)
England and Wales
Cited – Austin, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 17-Jan-2022
Parole Board Publication Scheme Unduly Complicated
This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.658028
Challenge to decision for immigration detention
Nicola Davies J
[2016] EWHC 1744 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 28 January 2022; Ref: scu.573368
[2009] ECHR 1730, 35757/06
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
See Also – Watkins (JS) v United Kingdom ECHR 29-Nov-2007
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 28 January 2022; Ref: scu.573286
Whether the claimant had been unlawfully detained in immigration detention and, if so, whether he was entitled to nominal or substantial damages.
[2019] EWHC 22 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration, Prisons, Torts – Other
Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.633142
Claim that the holding of the applicant in prison pending deportation had been unlawful.
Philip Mott QC
[2016] EWHC 3057 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration, Prisons
Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.572711
[2012] ECHR 1200
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
Citing:
See Also – Tymoshenko v Ukraine ECHR 31-May-2012
. .
Cited by:
See Also – Tymoshenko v Ukraine (Legal Summary) ECHR 30-Apr-2013
ECHR Article 5-1
Lawful arrest or detention
Pre-trial detention for allegedly contemptuous behaviour to trial court: violation
Article 18
Restrictions for unauthorised purposes
See Also – Tymoshenko v Ukraine ECHR 30-Apr-2013
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Prisons
Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.571947
The claimant appealed against case management decision made in his claim relating to his treatment in prison. In pursuing his case for reclassification, he had requested his personal data from the prison but was dissatisfied with the responses.
Gross, Sales, Simon LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1111, [2016] WLR(D) 605,
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Prisons, Litigation Practice, Information
Updated: 25 January 2022; Ref: scu.571422
Appeal by the Secretary of State from an order declaring that the detention of the claimant for a period of 11 days following the expiry of the custodial element of a sentence imposed upon him in the Crown Court was a breach of his rights protected by Article 5(1) of European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and was entitled to damages as just satisfaction for that breach.
Jackson McCombie LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1033
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 5(1)
England and Wales
Prisons, Human Rights
Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.570642
The claimant challenged a decision by the defendant, that he should remain a Category A prisoner. He was serving a sentence of life imprisonment, his minimum term had expired and he was detained in a Protected Witness Unit. These factors, he contended, mean that the Secretary of State erred by failing to hold an oral hearing when determining his categorisation.
Held: There should have been an oral hearing in the particular circumstances of the claimant’s case.
Cranston J
[2008] EWHC 2590 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569942
The claimant, a serving prisoner at HMP Woodhill. challenged the refusal by the defendant, in a decision made by the Category A Review Team to grant an oral hearing of his annual review to consider whether or not to maintain his prisoner security category at A.
Stephen Davis HHJ
[2016] EWHC 2455 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569915
The claimant, a national of Nigeria claimed that he had been subject to unlawful immigration detention.
Jonathan Swift QC DHCJ
[2016] EWHC 2335 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Torts – Other, Prisons
Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569627
ECHR Article 46
General measures
Article 46-2
Execution of judgment
Respondent State required to take general measures to improve conditions of detention and to afford appropriate remedies
Article 3
Degrading treatment
Inhuman treatment
Conditions of detention amounting to degrading and inhuman treatment: violation
Facts – The applicant complained before the European Court of the conditions in which he had been detained in various prisons in Belgium.
Law – Article 3: The applicant had been detained in overcrowded prison conditions and sometimes in cells with no toilet facilities or access to running water. He had also had to sleep on a mattress on the floor for several weeks and had been exposed to passive smoking. Accordingly, the applicant’s material conditions of detention in Antwerp and Merksplas prisons, taken as a whole, had reached the minimum threshold of seriousness required by Article 3 of the Convention and amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
Article 41: EUR 10,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage; claim in respect of pecuniary damage dismissed.
Article 46: The problems arising from prison overcrowding in Belgium, and the problems of unhygienic and dilapidated prisons, were structural in nature and did not concern the applicant’s personal situation alone. The conditions of detention about which the applicant had complained had been criticised by national and international observers for many years without any improvement apparently having been made in the prisons in which he had been detained. On the contrary, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) had observed in 2012 that the problem of prison overcrowding had continued to worsen in Belgium during recent years. Furthermore, none of the remedies referred to by the Government could at the present time be regarded as an effective remedy that had to be exhausted.
Accordingly, the Court recommended that the respondent State envisage adopting general measures in order to guarantee prisoners conditions of detention compatible with Article 3 of the Convention and also to provide them with a remedy capable of putting a stop to an alleged violation or permitting them to obtain an improvement in their conditions of detention.
64682/12 – Legal Summary, [2014] ECHR 1449
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
Cited by:
Legal Summary – Vasilescu v Belgium ECHR 25-Nov-2014
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Prisons
Updated: 23 January 2022; Ref: scu.569486
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 order to see whether there is more than a mere technical defect in the commitment. On behalf of the applicant it has been strenuously contended that we are dealing with the liberty of the subject, but we are also administering justice, and we have to see whether or not there is any ground for alleging that the applicant has not been properly convicted and committed. Rex v Hawkins and Rex v. Taylor are authorities which abundantly support the proposition that in considering the validity of the committal the conviction must be looked at. . . Those two authorities clearly support the principle that we are entitled, and I think bound to look at the conviction in the present case . . .’
Viscount Reading CJ, Lord Reading
[1917] 2 KB 254
England and Wales
Cited by:
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons
Updated: 22 January 2022; Ref: scu.182808
Supreme Court of India – The state owes a particular duty to those involuntarily in its custody. ‘There is a great responsibility on the police or prison authorities to ensure that the citizen in its custody is not deprived of his right to life’.
Verma, Jagdish Saran (J) Verma, Jagdish Saran (J) Anand, as (J) Venkatachala N (J)
(1993) 2 SCC 746, 1993 (2) SCR 581, AIR 1993 SC 1960, [1993] INSC 154, 1993 (2) JT 503
LiiI
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Amin, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Oct-2003
Prisoner’s death – need for full public enquiry
The deceased had been a young Asian prisoner. He was placed in a cell overnight with a prisoner known to be racist, extremely violent and mentally unstable. He was killed. The family sought an inquiry into the death.
Held: There had been a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Police
Updated: 22 January 2022; Ref: scu.186855
The right of access to the courts is not absolute but may be subject to limitations. These are permitted by implication since the right of access ‘by its very nature calls for regulation by the State, regulation which may vary in time and place according to the needs and resources of the community and of individuals’. There was no breach where a patient was detained in the high security conditions of Broadmoor for 18 months after the Home Secretary had acknowledged that his condition no longer warranted it, and he could be transferred to a local psychiatric unit. Article 5(1)(e) is not concerned with suitable treatment or conditions.
‘More generally, it follows from the very aim of article 5(1) that no detention that is arbitrary can ever be regarded as ‘lawful’. The court would further accept that there must be some relationship between the ground of permitted deprivation of liberty relied on and the place and conditions of detention.’
8225/78, (1985) 7 EHRR 528, [1985] ECHR 8, 14/1983/70/106
worldlii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights A6 A5(1)(e)
Human Rights
Citing:
Appeal from – Ashingdane v Department of Health and Social Security 1981
Mr Ashingdane was a Broadmoor patient who was deemed ready for transfer back into his local hospital, but was denied a bed there because the nurses’ trade union operated a ban on taking special hospital patients. He launched proceedings against the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Matthews v Ministry of Defence HL 13-Feb-2003
The claimant sought damages against the Crown, having suffered asbestosis whilst in the armed forces. He challenged the denial to him of a right of action by the 1947 Act.
Held: Human rights law did not create civil rights, but rather voided . .
Cited – Woodhouse v Consignia Plc; Steliou v Compton CA 7-Mar-2002
The claimant continued an action brought in her late husband’s name. The action had begun under the former rules. After the new rules came into effect, the action was automatically stayed, since no progress had been made for over a year. Her . .
Cited – Munjaz v Mersey Care National Health Service Trust And the Secretary of State for Health, the National Association for Mental Health (Mind) Respondent interested; CA 16-Jul-2003
The claimant was a mental patient under compulsory detention, and complained that he had been subjected to periods of seclusion.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The hospital had failed to follow the appropriate Code of Practice. The Code was not . .
Cited – Barry Young (Deceased) v Western Power Distribution (South West) Plc CA 18-Jul-2003
The deceased had begun an action on becoming ill after exposure to asbestos by the defendant. He withdrew his action after receiving expert evidence that his illness was unrelated. A post-mortem examination showed this evidence to be mistaken. His . .
Cited – Regina (Burgess) v Home Secretary 2000
The applicant challenged the refusal to move him to open conditions within the prison system.
Held: ‘Article 5(4) does not . . preclude the Secretary of State from taking a different view than the Discretionary Life Panel of the Parole Board . .
Cited – P, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 11-Dec-2003
The applicant was a discretionary life prisoner compulsorily detained in a mental hospital. His tariff had now expired. If not detained under the 1983 Act he would now be entitled to a review. He argued that there should be a joint hearing.
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Kehoe CA 5-Mar-2004
The claimant had applied to the Child Support Agncy for maintenance. They failed utterly to obtain payment, and she complained now that she was denied the opportunity by the 1991 Act to take court proceedings herself.
Held: The denial of . .
Cited – Government of the United States of America v Barnette and another Admn 2002
The applicant sought to register, under the Act, an order against the funds of the defendant, who replied that the order sought to be registered had been obtained in a way which would infringe her human rights if obtained here. As a fugitive she had . .
Cited – B, Regina (on the Application of) v Ashworth Hospital Authority HL 17-Mar-2005
The House was asked whether a patient detained for treatment under the 1983 Act can be treated against his will for any mental disorder from which he is suffering or only for the particular form of mental disorder from which he is classified as . .
Cited – Kehoe, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 14-Jul-2005
The applicant contended that the 1991 Act infringed her human rights in denying her access to court to obtain maintenance for her children.
Held: The applicant had no substantive right to take part in the enforcement process in domestic law . .
Cited – Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority (Now Mersey Care National Health Service Trust) ex parte Munjaz HL 13-Oct-2005
The claimant was detained in a secure Mental Hospital. He complained at the seclusions policy applied by the hospital, saying that it departed from the Guidance issued for such policies by the Secretary of State under the Act.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Raja v Van Hoogstraten and others ChD 12-Jun-2006
The claimant sought the strike out of the defendants pleadings. The first defendant was found to have been responsible for the killing of the deceased. The proceedings had been prolonged by procedural challenges by the defendant.
Held: The . .
Cited – K Ltd v National Westminster Bank Plc and others CA 19-Jul-2006
The bank had declined to act upon a customer’s instructions, reporting its suspicions of criminal activity to the police. Permission was given to proceed but only after a delay. The claimant customer sought its costs.
Held: The customer’s . .
Cited – Seal v Chief Constable of South Wales Police HL 4-Jul-2007
The claimant had sought to bring proceedings against the respondent, but as a mental patient subject to the 1983 Act, had been obliged by the section first to obtain consent. The parties disputed whether the failure was a procedural or substantial . .
Cited – In re F (A Child) (Placement Order); C v East Sussex County Council (Adoption) CA 1-May-2008
The father sought to revoke a freeing order. He said that the social workers had conspired to exclude him from the process. The child was born of a casual relationship, and at first he was unaware of the proceedings. On learning of them he sought to . .
Cited – MAK and RK v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Mar-2010
mak_ukECHR10
When RK, a nine year old girl was taken to hospital, with bruises, the paediatrician wrongly suspecting sexual abuse, took blood samples and intimate photographs in the absence of the parents and without their consent.
Held: The doctor had . .
Cited – G v E and Others CA 16-Jul-2010
E, now aged 19, suffered a genetic disorder leading to severe learning disability and lack of mental capacity. He had been in the care of his sister, the appellant, but had been removed by the local authority when his behaviour became disturbed. G, . .
Cited – Fairclough Homes Ltd v Summers SC 27-Jun-2012
The respondent had made a personal injury claim, but had then been discovered to have wildly and dishonestly exaggerated the damages claim. The defendant argued that the court should hand down some condign form of punishment, and appealed against . .
Cited – Re DE, JE v DE, Surrey County Council and EW FD 29-Dec-2006
JE, wife of DE, who had been taken into residential care by the Local authority, said that the authority had infringed his Article 5 and 8 rights on transferring him between homes. The authority asserted that he did not have mental capacity. She . .
Cited – G v Scottish Ministers and Another SC 18-Dec-2013
The 2003 Act had been intended to make provision for those who had been in long term mental health carse, but would not need such continued are but were not either ready to survive without continuing support in the community. The claimant had been . .
Cited – Benkharbouche v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs SC 18-Oct-2017
The court was asked as to the compatibility of provisions in the 1978 Act with the human rights of the appellant. The claimants, Moroccan nationals were employed as domestic staff in embassies in London. They alleged both race discrimination and . .
Cited – Brown v The Parole Board for Scotland, The Scottish Ministers and Another SC 1-Nov-2017
The court was asked whether the duty under article 5 to provide prisoners with a real opportunity for rehabilitation applied to prisoners serving extended sentences. The prisoner was subject to an extended sentence, but had been released on licence . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v MM SC 28-Nov-2018
The respondent had been detained after conviction for arson, under the 1983 Act, and was liable to indefinite detention in hospital for medical treatment and dischargeable only by the Appellant or the First Tier Tribunal, possibly only as a . .
Cited – Takhar v Gracefield Developments Ltd and Others SC 20-Mar-2019
The claimant appellant alleged that properties she owned were transferred to the first defendant under undue influence or other unconscionable conduct by the second and third defendants. The claim was dismissed. Three years later she claimed to set . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Health, Prisons
Leading Case
Updated: 21 January 2022; Ref: scu.164941
(Anguilla) The Board was asked as to the proper construction of section 7(2) of the Code of Discipline for Prison Officers in Anguilla, and in particular the scope of the power of the Prison Superintendent to refer upwards to the Governor charges which are brought against a prison officer.
Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Carnwath, Lord Hughes
[2016] UKPC 23
Bailii
Commonwealth
Prisons
Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.567841
The court was aked what article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires of a coroner when a serving prisoner dies of natural causes.
Held: The reuest for judicial review failed. Mr Tyrrell’s death was, from the outset, one which was clearly from natural causes. The cause of death was established and then confirmed on post-mortem examination. There was no indication of state involvement in his death of the sort that would trigger the procedural obligation under article 2 ECHR. The coroner was right to conclude that the procedural obligation was not engaged.
The positive obligations under article 2 encompass a duty to account for the cause of any death which occurs in custody. The procedural obligation arises only in circumstances where the responsibility of the state is engaged in the sense that there is reason to believe that the substantive positive obligations have been breached by the state. In the case of deaths in custody the procedural obligation will be triggered in the case of all suspicious deaths, including apparent suicides.
Burnett LJ, Lang J
[2016] EWHC 1892 (Admin), CO/3068/2015
Bailii, Judiiary
European Convention on Human Rights 2, Coroners and Justice Act 2009 1(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v North Humberside and Scunthorpe Coroner ex parte Jamieson CA 27-Apr-1994
The deceased prisoner had hanged himself. He had been a known suicide risk, and his brother said that the authorities being so aware, the death resulted from their lack of care. The inquest heard in full the circumstannces leading up to the death, . .
Cited – Middleton, Regina (on the Application of) v Coroner for the Western District of Somerset HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had committed suicide in prison. His family felt that the risk should have been known to the prison authorities, and that they had failed to guard against that risk. The coroner had requested an explanatory note from the jury.
Cited – Osman v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Oct-1998
Police’s Complete Immunity was Too Wide
(Grand Chamber) A male teacher developed an obsession with a male pupil. He changed his name by deed poll to the pupil’s surname. He was required to teach at another school. The pupil’s family’s property was subjected to numerous acts of vandalism, . .
Cited – Jordan v United Kingdom; McKerr v United Kingdom; similar ECHR 4-May-2001
Proper Investigation of Deaths with Army or Police
Claims were made as regards deaths of alleged terrorists in clashes with the UK armed forces and police. In some cases the investigations necessary to justify the taking of life had been inadequate. Statements made to the inquiry as to the . .
Cited – Gentle, Regina (on the Application of) and Another v The Prime Minister and Another HL 9-Apr-2008
The appellants were mothers of two servicemen who had died whilst on active service in Iraq. They appealed refusal to grant a public inquiry. There had already been coroners inquests. They said that Article 2 had been infringed.
Held: The . .
Cited – JL, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice; Regina (L (A Patient)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 26-Nov-2008
The prisoner was left with serious injury after attempting suicide in prison. He said that there was a human rights duty to hold an investigation into the circumstances leading up to this.
Held: There existed a similar duty to hold an enhanced . .
Cited – Slimani v France ECHR 27-Jul-2004
A Tunisian was committed to a psychiatric hospital on several occasions. He died while detained in a detention centre awaiting deportation. The applicant complained that there had been a violation of article 2 on two grounds: the detention centre . .
Cited – Goodson v HM Coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton Admn 17-Dec-2004
A patient had died in hospital following an operation. The NHS Trust submitted that ‘There is a real distinction between cases of medical negligence, which were specifically addressed as a discrete area in Calvelli, and cases of intentional killing . .
Cited – Takoushis, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for Inner North London and others CA 30-Nov-2005
Relatives sought judicial review of the coroner’s decision not to allow a jury, and against allowance of an expert witness. The deceased had been a mental patient but had been arrested with a view to being hospitalised. He was taken first to the . .
Cited – Tarariyeva v Russia ECHR 14-Dec-2006
A complaint was made that the authorities had failed in their duty to protect a prisoner’s life. The authorities had him in custody for two years and knew of his health problems. He was not properly treated in the penal colony. When he had acute . .
Cited – Kats and Others v Ukraine ECHR 18-Dec-2008
The applicants were the parents and son of a prisoner who died in custody of an HIV related illness. They complained of her treatment in custody.
Held: If someone dies in custody an explanation of the cause of death must be provided, including . .
Cited – Daniel and Another v St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and Another QBD 19-Jan-2016
The claimants as PR’s of a deceased prisoner claimed under the 1998 Act as to his treatment whilst in prison.
Held: The Claimants failed to establish violations of Articles 2 or 3 and their claim against both Defendants was dismissed. . .
Cited – Smith, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence and Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) SC 30-Jun-2010
The deceased soldier died of heat exhaustion whilst on active service in Iraq. It was said that he was owed a duty under human rights laws, and that any coroner’s inquest should be a fuller one to satisfy the state’s duty under Article 2.
Prisons, Human Rights, Coroners, News
Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.567656
Damages for wrongful imprisonment
The Honourable Mr Justice Maurice Kay
[2002] EWHC 2761 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Damages, Prisons
Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.178541
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him.
Held: The appeal failed (by a majority). The court should focus on the need of the Parole Board to carry out its work balancing the rights of the prisoner and the needs of society.
Lord Carswell said: ‘The present case is a classic instance of weighing up competing interests. The appellant’s interest in presenting his case effectively with sufficient knowledge of the allegations made against him is clear and strong. The informant has a compelling interest in being protected from dangerous consequences which might ensue if any indication leaked out which could lead to his identification. Thirdly, there is the public interest in ensuring that the Parole Board has all proper material before it to enable it to decide which prisoners are safe to release from prison. Having balanced these interests, I conclude that the interests which I have outlined of the informant and the public must prevail over those of the appellant, strong though the latter may be. I emphasise, however, that my conclusions relating to the powers of the Parole Board to use the SAA procedure and their compatibility with article 5(4) are a decision in principle, for that was all that was before the House. We were not asked, nor were we in a position to decide, whether it was proper in the instant case of the appellant. I accept that there may well be cases in which it would not be sufficiently fair to be justifiable and each case will require consideration on its own facts.’
The withholding of material was a clear breach of accepted rules of natural justice. The special advocate procedure had severe shortcomings. The statute made no provision for the procedure adopted, and it was unlawful Lord Steyn: ‘it is a formalistic outcome to describe a phantom hearing involving a special advocate (as directed by the Board) as meeting minimum standards of fairness. In truth the special advocate procedure empties the prisoner’s fundamental right to an oral hearing of all meaningful content.’ (Lord Bngham and Lord Steyn dissenting).
Lord Bingham said, in relation to procedural unfairness: ‘The principles have been set out in many cases of high authority, with greater elegance, but I would summarise them as follows. (i) An administrative body is required to act fairly when reaching a decision which could adversely affect those who are the subject of the decision.(ii) This requirement of fairness is not fixed and its content depends upon all the circumstances and, in particular, the nature of the decision which the body is required to make.(iii) The obligation of fairness to which I refer can be confined by legislation and, in particular, by rules of procedure, provided that the language used makes its effect clear and, in the case of secondary legislation it does not contravene the provisions of the [ECHR] Convention . . ‘
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Woolf, Lord Steyn, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell
[2005] UKHL 45, [2005] 2 AC 738, [2005] HRLR 38, [2005] UKHRR 939, [2006] 1 All ER 39, [2005] RPC 10, [2005] 3 WLR 152
Bailii, House of Lords
Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 28(5), European Convention on Human Rights 5
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Roberts v Parole Board CA 28-Jul-2004
The discretionary life-prisoner faced a parole board. The Secretary of State wished to present evidence, but wanted the witness to be protected. The Parole Board appointed special counsel to hear the evidence on behalf of the prisoner on terms that . .
Cited – Regina v Lichniak HL 25-Nov-2002
The appellants challenged the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment imposed on them on their convictions for murder. They said it was an infringement of their Human Rights, being arbitrary and disproportionate.
Held: The case followed on . .
Cited – Girling v Parole Board and Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 8-Apr-2005
Once the punitive or tariff term of imprisonment on a convicted murderer, is completed, risk to life and limb provides the sole ground for continued detention. The Parole Board, being subject to directions from the Home Secretary, was not an . .
At First Instance – Roberts v Parole Board Admn 19-Dec-2003
The prisoner had been convicted in 1996 of the murder of three police officers. His tariff had been fixed at 30 years. Material was to be placed before the parole board which was not to be disclosed to the appellant or his legal advisers. Instead it . .
Cited – Weeks v The United Kingdom ECHR 2-Mar-1987
The applicant, aged 17, was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to life imprisonment in the interests of public safety, being considered by the trial judge on appeal to be dangerous.
Held: ‘The court agrees with the Commission and the . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Doody and Others HL 25-Jun-1993
A mandatory lifer is to be permitted to suggest the period of actual sentence to be served. The Home Secretary must give reasons for refusing a lifer’s release. What fairness requires in any particular case is ‘essentially an intuitive judgment’, . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board ex parte Smith, Regina v Parole Board ex parte West (Conjoined Appeals) HL 27-Jan-2005
Each defendant challenged the way he had been treated on revocation of his parole licence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to make oral representations.
Held: The prisoners’ appeals were allowed.
Lord Bingham stated: . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board Admn 19-Dec-2003
The prisoner had been convicted in 1996 of the murder of three police officers. His tariff had been fixed at 30 years. Material was to be placed before the parole board which was not to be disclosed to the appellant or his legal advisers. Instead it . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board, ex Parte Watson CA 11-Mar-1996
The test as to whether there was still a need to protect the public safety from the defendant was just as appropriate when considering the revocation of a licence, as it was when the need for continued detention was being reviewed before the grant . .
Cited – Regina v A (Complainant’s Sexual History) (No 2) HL 17-May-2001
The fact of previous consensual sex between complainant and defendant could be relevant in a trial of rape, and a refusal to allow such evidence could amount to a denial of a fair trial to a defendant. Accordingly, where the evidence was so relevant . .
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.
Cited – Doorson v The Netherlands ECHR 26-Mar-1996
Evidence was given in criminal trials by anonymous witnesses and evidence was also read as a result of a witness having appeared at the trial but then absconded. The defendant was convicted of drug trafficking. As regards the anonymous witnesses, . .
Cited – 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 . .
Cited – Tinnelly and Sons Ltd and Others and McElduff and Others v United Kingdom ECHR 10-Jul-1998
Legislation which disallowed claimants who asserted that they had been discriminated against, on the grounds of their religious background, from appealing through the courts system, was a clear breach of their human rights. A limitation will not be . .
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 – In Re K (Infants) CA 2-Jan-1963
The court discussed the need for those appearing before tribunals to be given sufficient access to all the material placed before the judge. Upjohn LJ said: ‘It seems to be fundamental to any judicial inquiry that a person or other properly . .
Cited – Re D (Minors) (Adoption Reports: Confidentiality) HL 1-Sep-1995
The House considered whether it was right for a tribunal to see and rely upon papers not disclosed to the parties. Lord Mustill said: ‘a first principle of fairness that each party to a judicial process shall have an opportunity to answer by . .
Cited – In Re K (Infants); Official Solicitor v K HL 2-Jan-1963
The House considered the propriety of a tribunal chairman seeing material not placed before the parties. This was a wardship case.
Held: Where the interests of the parents and the child conflicted, ‘the welfare of the child must dominate’.
Cited – Regina v Parole Board and Another ex parte Wilson CA 6-May-1992
It was natural justice to allow a discretionary lifer to see the reports which had been prepared for consideration on his application for release on licence. W had been sentenced to life imprisonment for buggery, and was a discretionary life . .
Cited – Lamy v Belgium ECHR 30-Mar-1989
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-4; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses award – domestic proceedings; . .
Cited – D (A Minor), Regina (on the Application of) v Camberwell Green Youth Court HL 27-Jan-2005
The defendant challenged the obligatory requirement that evidence given by a person under 17 in sex or violent offence cases must normally be given by video link.
Held: The purpose of the section was to improve the quality of the evidence . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department Ex Parte Hickey and Others, Same Ex Parte Bamber; Same Ex Parte Malone (No 2) QBD 29-Nov-1994
The Home Secretary is obliged to disclose new evidence to a defendant before rejecting his application for a reference to Court of Appeal. The Home Secretary’s powers to refer a case back to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) was an integral . .
Cited – Kostovski v The Netherlands ECHR 20-Nov-1989
No Anonymity for Witnessses in Criminal Trial
K was convicted of armed robbery on the basis of statements of anonymous witnesses. He was unable to question those witnesses at any stage. Being unaware of the identity of the witnesses deprived K of the very particulars which would have enabled . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department ex parte H and Others, Regina v Same ex parte Hickey CA 29-Jul-1994
A discretionary life prisoner who had been transferred to a mental hospital is not automatically eligible for a certificate under the section. The right conferred on a discretionary life prisoner by section 34 of the 1991 Act did not extend to those . .
Cited – Brandstetter v Austria ECHR 28-Aug-1991
ECHR Judgment (Merits and Just Satisfaction) – Preliminary objection rejected (non-exhaustion); Violation of Art. 6-1; No violation of Art. 6-1+6-3-d; No violation of Art. 6-3-c; Pecuniary damage – claim . .
Cited – Edwards v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Dec-1992
The fact that the elderly victim of the robbery of which the defendant had been convicted had failed to pick out Mr Edwards when she was shown two volumes of photographs of possible burglars which included his photograph was not disclosed to the . .
mentioned – Sanchez-Reisse v Switzerland ECHR 21-Oct-1986
That a detainee may be heard either in person or, where necessary, through some form of representation can be a fundamental procedural guarantee in matters of deprivation of liberty. Article 5(4)was inspired by the English law of habeas corpus. . .
Mentioned – Al-Nashif v Bulgaria ECHR 20-Jun-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objections dismissed (non-exhaustion, abuse of right of petition); Violation of Art. 5-4; Violation of Art. 8; Violation of Art. 13; Not necessary to . .
Mentioned – Luca v Italy ECHR 27-Feb-2001
The accused had been convicted. After exercising his right to silence, there were read to the court accounts of statements made by co-accused but without an opportunity for him to cross examine the witnesses.
Held: Saunders had established the . .
Cited – Garcia Alva v Germany ECHR 13-Feb-2001
The complainant had been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and was detained on remand. When he brought an application for review of his detention his lawyers were not given access to a number of documents in the file, including the . .
Cited – The Secretary of State for the Home Department v M CA 18-Mar-2004
The applicant had been detained under the appellant’s certificate that he was a suspected terrorist.
Held: The fact that there were suspicions surrounding the detainee did not mean that those suspicions were necessarily reasonable suspicions . .
Cited – Attorney General and Another v Great Eastern Railway Company HL 27-May-1880
An Act of Parliament authorised a company to construct a railway. Two other companies combined and contracted with the first to supply rolling stock. An injunction was brought to try to restrain this, saying that such a contract was not explicitly . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for The Home Department Ex Parte Simms HL 8-Jul-1999
Ban on Prisoners talking to Journalists unlawful
The two prisoners, serving life sentences for murder, had had their appeals rejected. They continued to protest innocence, and sought to bring their campaigns to public attention through the press, having oral interviews with journalists without . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex Parte Pierson HL 24-Jul-1997
The Home Secretary may not later extend the tariff for a lifer, after it had been set by an earlier Home Secretary, merely to satisfy needs of retribution and deterrence: ‘A power conferred by Parliament in general terms is not to be taken to . .
Cited – Chahal v The United Kingdom ECHR 15-Nov-1996
Proper Reply Opportunity Required on Deportation
(Grand Chamber) The claimant was an Indian citizen who had been granted indefinite leave to remain in this country but whose activities as a Sikh separatist brought him to the notice of the authorities both in India and here. The Home Secretary of . .
Cited – Coles v Odhams Press Ltd 1936
Lord Hewart CJ said that courts should avoid ‘taking blind shots at a hidden target’. . .
Cited – Bouamar v Belgium ECHR 29-Feb-1988
Hudoc Violation of Art. 5-1; Violation of Art. 5-4; Just satisfaction reserved; Judgment (Just satisfaction) Struck out of the list (friendly settlement)
A person detained as a juvenile in need of . .
Cited – Hussain v The United Kingdom ECHR 21-Feb-1996
The determination of a life sentence by the Home Secretary without recourse to a court was unlawful. There had been a violation of article 5(4) because the applicant who had been detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure was unable, after the expiry of his . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rehman HL 11-Oct-2001
The applicant, a Pakistani national had entered the UK to act as a Muslim priest. The Home Secretary was satisfied that he was associated with a Muslim terrorist organisation, and refused indefinite leave to remain. The Home Secretary provided both . .
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.
Mentioned – Regina v Shayler HL 21-Mar-2002
The defendant had been a member of the security services. On becoming employed, and upon leaving, he had agreed to keep secret those matters disclosed to him. He had broken those agreements and was being prosecuted. He sought a decision that the . .
Cited – Waite v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-Dec-2002
The claimant had been sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure when a youth. After release on licence, the Parole Board met and revoked that licence without an oral hearing, and in contravention of the rules. He did not dispute the facts . .
Cited – Regina v Davis; Regina v Rowe; Regina v Johnson CA 10-Mar-1993
Guidance was given on the procedures to be followed for applications for non-disclosure for public interest immunity. The court identified three types of case. In the first, and most frequent case the prosecution must notify the defence of the . .
Cited – Regina on the Application of S v Waltham Forest Youth Court, The Crown Prosecution Service, The Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 31-Mar-2004
There was no inherent power to allow a defendant to give evidence by live link, on the ground that Parliament had sought since 1988 to provide exclusively for the circumstances in which live link might be used in a criminal trial. . .
Quoted – United States v Rabinowitz 1950
(US Supreme Court) Justice Frankfurter said: ‘It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.’ . .
Cited – Regina v Richmond Upon Thames London Borough Council, ex parte McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Ltd HL 14-Nov-1991
A Local Authority was not able to impose charge for inquiries as to speculative developments and similar proposals, or for consultations, and pre-planning advice. There was no statutory authority for such a charge, and it was therefore unlawful and . .
Cited – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1991
Swap deals outwith Council powers
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were . .
Cited by:
Cited – McClean, Re HL 7-Jul-2005
The appellant was serving a life sentence for terrorist offences. He complained that he should have been released under the 1998 Act. It was said he would be a danger to the public if released. On pre-release home leave he was involved in a . .
Cited – Al-Jedda, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence Admn 12-Aug-2005
The claimant was born an Iraqi, but had been granted British Nationality. He was later detained in Iraq suspected of membership of a terrorist group. No charges were brought, and he complained that his article 5 rights were infringed. The defendant . .
Cited – Henshall v General Medical Council and others CA 13-Dec-2005
The claimant had lodged a complaint against a medical practitioner. The preliminary proceedings committee had accepted evidence from the doctor, but had not given the complainant opportunity to see it and comment upon it.
Held: the rules must . .
Cited – MB, Re, Secretary of State for the Home Department v MB Admn 12-Apr-2006
The applicant challenged the terms of a non-derogating control order. It was anticipated that unless prevented, he would fight against UK forces in Iraq.
Held: The section allowed the Secretary of State to impose any necessary conditions, but . .
Cited – Gardner, Regina (on the Application Of) v the Parole Board Admn 21-Dec-2005
The court considered whether a parole review board can exclude the prisoner from part of a hearing and if so on what grounds.
Held: The parole board had the required power. Both Rule 19 (2) and 19 (3) gave the panel the power which they . .
Cited – Gardner, Regina (on the Application of) v Parole Board CA 5-Sep-2006
The prisoner challenged his exclusion from a parole board hearing whilst evidence was taken. He was serving a long sentence for a violent attack, and had re-offended only shortly after his release. His ex-wife had been unwilling to confront him, and . .
Cited – A, K, M, Q and G v HM Treasury Admn 24-Apr-2008
The applicants were suspected of terrorist associations. Their bank accounts and similar had been frozen. They challenged the Order in Council under which the orders had been made without an opportunity for parliamentary challenge or approval.
Cited – Murungaru v Secretary of State for the Home Department and others Admn 4-Oct-2006
The claimant challenged the decision of the respondent that his continued presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good. He had been given multiple entry visas which had been revoked.
Held: The refusal of entry interfered with . .
See Also – Roberts, Regina (on the Application of) v The Parole Board Admn 7-Nov-2008
The prisoner was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three police officers in 1966. He served a longer time than the recommended minimum and had been transferred to an open prison anticipating release on licence. He now complained of . .
Cited – Al Rawi and Others v The Security Service and Others QBD 18-Nov-2009
The claimants sought damages from the defendants saying that they had been held and ill treated at various detention centres by foreign authorities, but with the involvement of the defendants. The defendants sought to bring evidence before the court . .
Cited – Bank Mellat v Her Majesty’s Treasury CA 4-May-2010
The claimants sought damages after being made subject of orders under the 2009 Order. Both parties appealed against an order (partly closed) allowing some but restricting other disclosure and use against the claimants in court of evidence which they . .
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 – Sher and Others v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and Others Admn 21-Jul-2010
The claimants, Pakistani students in the UK on student visas, had been arrested and held by the defendants under the 2000 Act before being released 13 days later without charge. They were at first held incognito. They said that their arrest and . .
Cited – Chief Constable and Another v YK and Others FD 6-Oct-2010
cc_ykFD10
The court gave directions in Forced Marriage Protection order applications. An order had been made at the request of the police on behalf of A, and the court had declined to discharge it on A’s own application.
Held: Special advocates were not . .
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 – McGetrick, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board and Another CA 14-Mar-2013
The claimant prisoner appealed against refusal of review of the use of allegations and evidence of offences not tried against him when deciding as to his release on licence. The material would suggest that he might pose a continuing risk to . .
Cited – Bank Mellat v Her Majesty’s Treasury (No 1) SC 19-Jun-2013
Closed Material before Supreme Court
Under the 2009 order, the appellant Bank had been effectively shut down as to its operations within the UK. It sought to use the appeal procedure, and now objected to the use of closed material procedure. The Supreme Court asked itself whether it . .
Cited – Austin, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 17-Jan-2022
Parole Board Publication Scheme Unduly Complicated
This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Human Rights
Leading Case
Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.228285
Challenge to decision of parole board for release of notorious criminal. – Whether Parole Board should take account of allegations made but neither prosecuted nor admitted. Whether Parole Board hearings were public.
Held: Granted
Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, said: ‘There are no obvious reasons why the open justice principle should not apply to the Parole Board in the context of providing information on matters of public concern to the very group of individuals who harbour such concern, namely the public itself. Indeed, it seems to us that there are clear and obvious reasons why the Parole Board should do so. This information can readily be provided in a fashion which in no way undermines the article 8 rights of the prisoner and the confidentiality which attaches to it.
Our conclusion is that the open justice principle, or more particularly the right of the public to receive information which flows from the operation of that principle, applies to the proceedings of the Parole Board.’
Sir Brian Leveson P QBD, Jay, Garnham JJ
[2018] EWHC 694 (Admin), [2018] WLR(D) 195, [2018] 3 All ER 417, [2018] 3 WLR 829, [2018] HRLR 12, [2019] QB 285, [2018] ACD 57
Bailii, WLRD
Parole Board Rules 2016 25
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Monica, Regina (on The Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 14-Dec-2018
Deception as to identity did not undermine consent
The claimant had been an environmental campaigner. She had had a sexual relationship with a man who was unknown to her an undercover police officer. She now challenged the decision not to prosecute him for rape.
Held: Her claim failed. Case . .
Cited – Austin, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 17-Jan-2022
Parole Board Publication Scheme Unduly Complicated
This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons
Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.608925
The panel had made its decision on release of a life sentence prisoner and had sent its reasoned decision to the case manager. A question then arose as to whether new information could be received by the panel entitling it to reopen its decision.
Held: The panel was functus officio, and there was no power to reopen the decision, even if the decision had not yet been communicated to the parties; communication of the decision was an administrative task, separate and distinct from the functions of the Board in making the decision on release:
The Honourable Mrs Justice Stacey
[2021] EWHC 1166 (Admin), [2021] WLR(D) 268, [2021] 1 WLR 4126
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Austin, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 17-Jan-2022
Parole Board Publication Scheme Unduly Complicated
This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons
Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.662403
This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol required advance disclosure of the summary to legal representatives against their undertaking for non-disclosure in certain noteworthy cases. In this case, the undertaking was refused, citing professional obligations.
Held: There were potential conflicts between the protocol, and the solicitor’s professional duties to his client. The requirement in the Protocol of an undertaking by the solicitor not to disclose the content of the full decision letter and the draft summary to his client was, in the context of the mischief at which the Protocol was aimed, unreasonable, disproportionate, unfair and consequently unlawful. It could be simplified.
Mr Justice Spencer
[2022] EWHC 63 (Admin)
Bailii
Parole Board Rules 2019 27, Criminal Justice Act 2003, Solicitors’ Regulation Authority Code of Conduct 6.4
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1991
Swap deals outwith Council powers
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were . .
Cited – Dickins v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 6-May-2021
The panel had made its decision on release of a life sentence prisoner and had sent its reasoned decision to the case manager. A question then arose as to whether new information could be received by the panel entitling it to reopen its decision. . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board HL 7-Jul-2005
Balancing Rights of Prisoner and Society
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him.
Held: . .
Cited – Gifford-Hull v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 28-Jan-2021
The prisoner’s solicitor declined to give an undertaking because he considered it to be contrary to his professional duty to his client to disclose all information to
his client about his case.
Held: HH Judge Cotter QC found it . .
Cited – DSD and NBV and Others Regina (on The Application of) v Admn 28-Mar-2018
Challenge to decision of parole board for release of notorious criminal. – Whether Parole Board should take account of allegations made but neither prosecuted nor admitted. Whether Parole Board hearings were public.
Held: Granted
Sir . .
Cited – Osborn v The Parole Board SC 9-Oct-2013
Three prisoners raised questions as to the circumstances in which the Parole Board is required to hold an oral hearing before making an adverse decision. One of the appeals (Osborn) concerned a determinate sentence prisoner who was released on . .
Cited – The Lord Chancellor v Detention Action CA 29-Jul-2015
The claimant challenged the legality of the Fast Track Rules 2014 which govern appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) against refusals by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (‘SSHD’) of asylum applications. . .
Cited – A, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 30-Jul-2021
Standards to be applied by a court when it is asked to conduct a judicial review of the contents of a policy document or statement of practice issued by the Government. The Supreme Court set out the principles governing the test that should be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Media, Legal Professions
Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.671309
Challenge to lawfulness of immigration detention.
Nicholas LavenderQC HHJ
[2016] EWHC 1347 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons, Immigration
Updated: 17 January 2022; Ref: scu.565394
The claimants, a prisoner and his disabled wife, complained that he had been placed in a prison too far from her to allow visits.
Held: A declaration was granted.
Holman J
[2015] EWHC 4093 (Admin)
Bailii
Equality Act 2010
Prisons, Administrative
Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.564426
The deceased had committed suicide in prison. His family felt that the risk should have been known to the prison authorities, and that they had failed to guard against that risk. The coroner had requested an explanatory note from the jury.
Held: The jury should indeed have been given opportunity to explain their verdict: ‘By one means or another the jury should, to meet the procedural obligation in article 2, have been permitted to express their conclusion on the central facts explored before them’, but private communications between the coroner and the jury were inappropriate. In order for these rules to meet the state’s procedural investigative duty under Article 2 of the Convention the word ‘how’ in sub-rule (1)(b) of the Coroner’s Rules should now be interpreted not simply to mean ‘by what means’, as earlier cases had held, but also to include ‘and in what circumstances.’
The House considered the article 2 duties of a member state: ‘The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly interpreted article 2 of the European Convention as imposing on member states substantive obligations not to take life without justification and also to establish a framework of laws, precautions, procedures and means of enforcement which will, to the greatest extent reasonably practicable, protect life.
The European Court has also interpreted article 2 as imposing on member states a procedural obligation to initiate an effective public investigation by an independent official body into any death occurring in circumstances in which it appears that one or other of the foregoing substantive obligations has been, or may have been, violated and it appears that agents of the state are, or may be, in some way implicated.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘However the jury’s factual conclusion is conveyed, rule 42 should not be infringed. Thus there must be no finding of criminal liability on the part of a named person. Nor must the verdict appear to determine any question of civil liability. Acts or omissions may be recorded, but expressions suggestive of civil liability, in particular ‘neglect’ or ‘carelessness’ and related expressions, should be avoided.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Baroness Hale of Richmond and Lord Carswell
[2004] UKHL 10, Times 12-Mar-2004, [2004] 2 WLR 800, [2004] 2 AC 182, [2004] UKHRR 501, [2004] 2 All ER 465, (2004) 79 BMLR 51, [2004] Lloyds Rep Med 288, [2004] 17 BHRC 49, (2004) 168 JPN 479, (2004) 168 JP 329
Bailii, House of Lords
Coroners Act 1988, European Convention on Human Rights 2, Coroners Rules 36
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Regina (Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Regina (Middleton) v Coroner for West Somersetshire CA 27-Mar-2002
A prisoner had been killed in his cell by a cell-mate known to be unstable and racist. His family sought to be involved in the inquiry into the death within the prison system. A second prisoner hanged himself in his cell. His family alleged that he . .
Cited – LCB v The United Kingdom ECHR 9-Jun-1998
The court had no jurisdiction to consider allegations not raised before the commission or predating a country’s accession to the convention. There was no breach in a failure to record an exposure to radiation in a test. Article 2 imposes substantive . .
Cited – Osman v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Oct-1998
Police’s Complete Immunity was Too Wide
(Grand Chamber) A male teacher developed an obsession with a male pupil. He changed his name by deed poll to the pupil’s surname. He was required to teach at another school. The pupil’s family’s property was subjected to numerous acts of vandalism, . .
Cited – Oneryildiz v Turkey ECHR 30-Nov-2004
(Grand Chamber) The applicant had lived with his family in a slum bordering on a municipal household refuse tip. A methane explosion at the tip resulted in a landslide which engulfed the applicant’s house killing his close relatives.
Held: The . .
Cited – Powell v United Kingdom ECHR 4-May-2000
A ten-year old boy had died from Addison’s disease. No inquest took place, because the coroner decided that the boy had died of natural causes. The parents, who were also affected by the events, had accepted compensation from the local health . .
Cited – Edwards v The United Kingdom ECHR 14-Mar-2002
The deceased, a young man of mixed race, had been placed in a cell with another prisoner who was known to be violent, racist, and mentally unstable. The staff knew that the panic button was defective. The deceased was murdered by his cell-mate. His . .
Cited – Calvelli and Ciglio v Italy ECHR 17-Jan-2002
The applicants’ baby had died shortly after birth in 1987. They complained about the medical care. The complaint was not investigated speedily by the authority, resulting in a criminal complaint becoming time barred after a conviction in 1994 was . .
Cited – Keenan v The United Kingdom ECHR 3-Apr-2001
A young prisoner was known to be at risk of suicide, but nevertheless was not provided with adequate specialist medical supervision. He was punished for an offence, by way of segregation which further put him at risk.
Held: Inhuman and . .
Cited – Taylor v United Kingdom ECHR 1994
. .
Cited – McCann and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 6-Oct-1995
Wrong assumptions made by police officers in the killing of terrorists amounted to a human rights breach, despite the existence of danger to the public of an imminent attack. Article 2(1) is ‘one of the most fundamental provisions in the . .
Cited – Salman v Turkey ECHR 27-Jun-2000
Where someone dies or is injured whilst in custody the burden is on the state to provide a ‘satisfactory and convincing explanation’ of what has happened: ‘Persons in custody are in a vulnerable position and the authorities are under a duty to . .
Cited – Mastromatteo v Italy ECHR 24-Oct-2002
The deceased had been a bystander killed by a group of criminals, some of whom were on leave of absence from prison and one of whom had absconded from prison. A complaint was made by the applicant that there had been a breach of the positive duty to . .
Cited – Edwards v The United Kingdom ECHR 14-Mar-2002
The deceased, a young man of mixed race, had been placed in a cell with another prisoner who was known to be violent, racist, and mentally unstable. The staff knew that the panic button was defective. The deceased was murdered by his cell-mate. His . .
Cited – Sieminska v Poland ECHR 29-Mar-2001
The applicant’s husband died in hospital, but she later complained that the ambulance had not been equipped with the necessary resuscitation devices. Under Polish law she had a right to appeal against decisions of the prosecuting authorities not to . .
Cited – Jordan v United Kingdom; McKerr v United Kingdom; similar ECHR 4-May-2001
Proper Investigation of Deaths with Army or Police
Claims were made as regards deaths of alleged terrorists in clashes with the UK armed forces and police. In some cases the investigations necessary to justify the taking of life had been inadequate. Statements made to the inquiry as to the . .
Cited – Regina v Walthamstow Coroner, Ex parte Rubenstein 19-Feb-1982
The 1988 Act was a consolidating Act. . .
Cited – Regina v HM Coroner for Birmingham, Ex parte Secretary of State for the Home Department 1990
. .
Cited – Regina v Coroner for Western District of Sussex Ex Parte Homberg Roberts and Mannerss QBD 27-Jan-1994
A Coroner’s enquires should be as to ‘how’ the death arose, and not into all the circumstances contributing to the death.
Simon Brown LJ said: ‘It is clear that the coroner’s over-riding duty is to inquire ‘how’ the deceased came by his death . .
Appeal from – Regina (Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Regina (Middleton) v Coroner for West Somersetshire CA 27-Mar-2002
A prisoner had been killed in his cell by a cell-mate known to be unstable and racist. His family sought to be involved in the inquiry into the death within the prison system. A second prisoner hanged himself in his cell. His family alleged that he . .
Cited – Middleton, Regina (on the Application of) v Coroner for the Western District of Somerset Admn 14-Dec-2001
The deceased had committed suicide whilst in prison. It was argued that the prison should have recognised that he was a suicide risk, and acted accordingly. The coroner had requested a note from the jury as to the cause of death. The court . .
Cited – In re McKerr (Northern Ireland) HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had been shot by soldiers of the British Army whilst in a car in Northern Ireland. The car was alleged to have ‘run’ a checkpoint. The claimants said the investigation, now 20 years ago, had been inadequate. The claim was brought under . .
Cited by:
Cited – In re McKerr (Northern Ireland) HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had been shot by soldiers of the British Army whilst in a car in Northern Ireland. The car was alleged to have ‘run’ a checkpoint. The claimants said the investigation, now 20 years ago, had been inadequate. The claim was brought under . .
Appealed to – Regina (Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Regina (Middleton) v Coroner for West Somersetshire CA 27-Mar-2002
A prisoner had been killed in his cell by a cell-mate known to be unstable and racist. His family sought to be involved in the inquiry into the death within the prison system. A second prisoner hanged himself in his cell. His family alleged that he . .
Cited – Sacker, Regina (on the Application of) v Coroner for the County of West Yorkshire HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased committed suicide in prison. Her family sought to have added to the verdict the words ‘contributed by neglect’ and complained that the inquest had not provided a full and proper investigation of the death.
Held: The Act needed to . .
Cited – Three Rivers District Council and others v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No 6) HL 11-Nov-2004
The Bank anticipated criticism in an ad hoc enquiry which was called to investigate its handling of a matter involving the claimant. The claimant sought disclosure of the documents created when the solicitors advised employees of the Bank in . .
Cited – Regina (Anderson and Others) v HM Coroner for Inner North Greater London QBD 26-Nov-2004
The deceased suffered depressive mental illness, and was detained outside on a cold night naked and in a cannabis induced delirium. Because of his size, additional officers were called upon to assist restraining him. He was taken to hospital, but . .
Cited – D, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 28-Apr-2005
D was undergoing trial for offences and was held in prison. He self-harmed repeatedly, and was recorded to require extra vigilance. He attempted to hang himself. Prison staff saved his life, but he was left paraplegic, and was then detained under . .
Cited – Plymouth City Council v HM Coroner for the County of Devon and Another Admn 27-May-2005
The local authority in whose care the deceased child had been held challenged a decision by the coroner not to limit his inquiry to the last few days of the child’s life. The coroner had decided that he had an obligation to conduct a wider enquiry . .
Cited – Takoushis, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for Inner North London and others CA 30-Nov-2005
Relatives sought judicial review of the coroner’s decision not to allow a jury, and against allowance of an expert witness. The deceased had been a mental patient but had been arrested with a view to being hospitalised. He was taken first to the . .
Applied – Longfield Care Homes Ltd, Regina (on the Application Of) v HM Coroner for Blackburn and others Admn 14-Oct-2004
An elderly lady had died after falling from an open window at her care home. Although she suffered moderately severe injuries from the fall, they were not serious enough of themselves to cause her death which resulted from pre-existing pneumonia, . .
Cited – Takoushis, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for Inner North London Admn 16-Dec-2004
A patient suffering schizophrenia had been a voluntary patient. He was allowed to visit another unit within the hospital grounds, but then left altogether and was next found preparing to jump from Tower Bridge. He was taken by ambulance to Hospital . .
Cited – D, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Inquest Intervening) CA 28-Feb-2006
The respondent appealed from orders made as to the conduct of an investigation into an attempted suicide in prison. The judge had severely criticised the appellant’s treatment of the case.
Held: The appeal failed. The court recited the . .
Cited – Parkin v HM Coroner for North Lincolnshire and Grimsby District Admn 23-Mar-2005
The family appealed against an open verdict. Her son was found hanged at school. The coroner felt unable to be sure that he had committed suicide. He had been looking forward to a new job as a theatre technician.
Held: There was evidence . .
Cited – Bloom v HM Assistant Deputy Coroner for the Northern District of London and Another Admn 20-Dec-2004
The deceased had gone to hospital and was diagnosed as having a kidney stone. As it was removed there was evidence of infection. She declined and was transferred to the local NHS hospital in intensive care. She died and a post-mortem identified . .
Cited – Cameron and others v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd QBD 18-May-2006
The claimant sought damages from the defendant after the death of her father in the Potters Bar rail crash. The defendant applied for summary judgment saying that English law did not recognise a claim by a family member of a deceased save through . .
Cited – Scholes, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 16-Jan-2006
The deceased had committed suicide whilst in a Young Offenders Institute. The coroner had called for a further enquiry into the way he had been sentenced. The Home Office refused a public enquiry saying that the coroner’s inquest had satisfied its . .
Cited – Gentle and Clarke, Regina (on the Application Of) v Prime Minister and others CA 12-Dec-2006
The claimants appealed refusal of a judicial review of the defendant’s decision to enter into the war in Iraq. The claimants were parents of troops who had died in the war. They said that the legal advice given to the government was incorrect.
Cited – Gentle, Regina (on the Application of) and Another v The Prime Minister and Another HL 9-Apr-2008
The appellants were mothers of two servicemen who had died whilst on active service in Iraq. They appealed refusal to grant a public inquiry. There had already been coroners inquests. They said that Article 2 had been infringed.
Held: The . .
Cited – Warren, Regina (on the Application of) v Her Majesty’s Assistant Coroner for Northamptonshire Admn 29-Apr-2008
The deceased had committed suicide in his prison cell. Prison officers were charged with manslaughter by gross neglect, but they were discharged. The applicant sought now to challenge the refusal of the coroner to allow to be called to give evidence . .
Cited – Hurst, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v London Northern District Coroner HL 28-Mar-2007
The claimant’s son had been stabbed to death. She challenged the refusal of the coroner to continue with the inquest with a view to examining the responsibility of any of the police in having failed to protect him.
Held: The question amounted . .
Cited – Smith v The Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire Admn 11-Apr-2008
The claimant’s son had died of hyperthermia whilst serving in the army in Iraq. The parties requested a new inquisition after the coroner had rules that human rights law did not apply to servicemen serving outside Europe. Reports had been prepared . .
Cited – Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MIND intervening) HL 10-Dec-2008
The deceased had committed suicide on escaping from a mental hospital. The Trust appealed against a refusal to strike out the claim that that they had been negligent in having inadequate security.
Held: The Trust’s appeal failed. The fact that . .
Cited – Pounder, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for the North and South Districts of Durham and Darlington and others Admn 22-Jan-2009
The deceased died aged 14 in a Secure Training Centre by hanging. He had complained of his treatment and restraint methods used. The mother sought judicial review of the conduct of the inquest, wanting the coroner not to have ruled on the legality . .
Cited – Al-Sweady and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Defence Admn 2-Oct-2009
The claimant’s son had died whilst in the custody of the British Armed Forces in Iraq. His uncle now claimed that his human rights had been infringed. The case ‘raised a fundamental issue of jurisdiction under Article 1 of the ECHR because if the . .
Cited – P, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Coroner for The District of Avon CA 18-Dec-2009
The deceased was found hanging in her prison cell. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, not being satisfied that she was not merely making a cry for help. The family appealed a finding that the inquest had satisfied the requirement for a . .
Cited – Lewis, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Coroner for The Mid and North Division of The County of Shropshire and Another CA 21-Dec-2009
The claimant’s son was found hanging in his prison cell. He appealed refusal of a judicial review of the coroner’s decision not to put to the jury a question as to certain possible causative matters. The youth was seen hanging, but the guard called . .
Cited – Jones v HM Coroner for The Southern District of Greater London and Another Admn 28-Apr-2010
The mother of the deceased asked for a new inquest, saying that there had been insufficient enquiry. He was an adult suffering Asperger’s syndrome and other difficulties, but had sought and been given excess prescriptions of fentanyl a drug to . .
Cited – Smith, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence and Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) SC 30-Jun-2010
The deceased soldier died of heat exhaustion whilst on active service in Iraq. It was said that he was owed a duty under human rights laws, and that any coroner’s inquest should be a fuller one to satisfy the state’s duty under Article 2.
Cited – Wilkinson, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Coroner for The Greater Manchester South District Admn 11-Oct-2012
The court was asked whether evidence of the commission of the criminal offence of causing death by careless driving contrary to section 2B of the 1988 Act is capable of justifying a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ at an inquest.
Held: The . .
Cited – Kent County Council, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Coroner for The County of Kent (North-West District) and Others Admn 15-Oct-2012
The council sought review of the coroner’s decision that the inquest would be an article 2 inquest and with a jury. The deceased was 14 years old and had taken methadone. In the months before his death, he had had involvement with the council’s . .
Cited – Birks, Regina (On the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Admn 25-Sep-2014
The claimant police officer sought judicial review of a decision to continue his suspension. He had been investigated and cleared after a death in custody. He sought to join the Church of England Ministry and was offered a post. He was re-assured . .
Cited – Letts, Regina (on The Application of) v The Lord Chancellor and Another Admn 20-Feb-2015
Application for judicial review concerning the criteria applied by the Legal Aid Agency to determine whether relatives of a deceased should be granted legal aid for representation at an inquest into a death which has arisen in circumstances which . .
Cited – Tyrrell v HM Senior Coroner County Durham and Darlington and Another Admn 26-Jul-2016
The court was aked what article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires of a coroner when a serving prisoner dies of natural causes.
Held: The reuest for judicial review failed. Mr Tyrrell’s death was, from the outset, one which . .
Cited – Finucane, Re Application for Judicial Review SC 27-Feb-2019
(Northern Ireland) The deceased solicitor was murdered in his home in 1989, allegedly by loyalists. They had never been identified, though collusion between security forces and a loyalist paramilitary was established. The ECHR and a judge led . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Coroners, Prisons, Human Rights
Leading Case
Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.194438
A public authority, and the Prison Service in particular, is free, within the limits of rationality, to decide on any policy as to how to exercise its discretions; it is entitled to change its policy from time to time for the future, and a person whose case falls within the scope of the policy is only entitled to have whatever policy is lawfully in place at the relevant time applied to him. A Secretary of State is entitled to change his policy.
It is proper for an authority to adopt a general policy for the exercise of such an administrative discretion, to allow for exceptions from it in ‘exceptional circumstances’ and to leave those circumstances undefined.
Scarman L said: ‘It is said that the refusal to except them from the new policy was an unlawful act on the part of the Secretary of State in that his decision frustrated their expectation. But what was their legitimate expectation? Given the substance and purpose of the legislative provisions . . the most that a convicted prisoner can legitimately expect is that his case will be examined individually in the light of whatever policy the Secretary of State sees fit to adopt provided always that the adopted policy is a lawful exercise of the discretion conferred upon him by the statute. Any other view would entail the conclusion that the unfettered discretion conferred by the statute upon the minister can in some cases be restricted so as to hamper or even to prevent, changes of policy.’ and ‘the Secretary of State has clearly to consider other aspects of the early release of a prisoner serving a sentence of imprisonment. Deterrence, retribution, and public confidence in the system are factors of importance. The Parole Board, through its judicial and other members, can offer advice on these aspects of the question. But neither the board nor the judiciary can be as close, or as sensitive, to public opinion as a minister responsible to Parliament and to the electorate. He has to judge the public acceptability of early release and to determine the policies needed to maintain public confidence in the system of criminal justice.’
Scarman, Diplock, Roskill, Brandon, Brightman LL
[1985] AC 318, [1984] 3 WLR 1159, [1984] 3 All ER 801
England and Wales
Citing:
Approved – CREEDNZ Inc v The Governor General 1981
(New Zealand) The court looked at those considerations which a decision maker can choose for himself whether or not to take them into account. Cooke J said: ‘what has to be emphasised is that it is only when the statute expressly or impliedly . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Department of Education and Employment ex parte Begbie CA 20-Aug-1999
A statement made by a politician as to his intentions on a particular matter if elected could not create a legitimate expectation as regards the delivery of the promise after elected, even where the promise would directly affect individuals, and the . .
Cited – Flynn, Meek, Nicol and McMurray v Her Majesty’s Advocate PC 18-Mar-2004
PC (High Court of Justiciary) The applicants had each been convicted of murder, and complained that the transitional provisions for determining how long should be served under the life sentences infringed their . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex Parte Hindley HL 30-Mar-2000
The prisoner, sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life tariff for the murders of children, now appealed against the imposition of the whole life tarriff.
Held: The appeal failed. It was possible for a Home Secretary to set a whole life . .
Mentioned – Regina (Nadarajah) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Abdi v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 22-Nov-2005
The asylum applicant challenged a certificate given by the respondent that the claim for asylum was manifestly ill-founded. The respondent had made a mistake in applying the appropriate policy, but had sought to correct the error. The claimants . .
Cited – North West Lancashire Health Authority v A D and G CA 29-Jul-1999
A decision not to fund gender re-assignment surgery was operated as a blanket policy without proper regard for individual cases and so was unlawful as an effective fetter on the discretion which the Health Authority was obliged to exercise. A lawful . .
Cited – Rogers, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health Admn 15-Feb-2006
The claimant suffered breast cancer. She sought treatment from the defendant with a drug called Herceptin, and now sought judicial review of the refusal of such treatment. Various stages in the licensing of the drug were yet to be completed. It was . .
Cited – Rogers, Regina (on the Application of) v Swindon NHS Primary Care Trust CA 12-Apr-2006
The claimant challenged the policy of her local health authority not to allow prescription to her of the drug Herceptin.
Held: The policy had not been settled upon lawfully and was to be set aside. On the one hand the PCT developed a policy . .
Cited – Lambeth London Borough Council v Ireneschild CA 16-Mar-2007
The tenant held a secure tenancy of a first floor flat of the Council. She was severely disabled and argued that the danger of injury meant that she should be allowed to occupy the empty ground floor flat. She complained at the way the authority had . .
Cited – Hurst, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v London Northern District Coroner HL 28-Mar-2007
The claimant’s son had been stabbed to death. She challenged the refusal of the coroner to continue with the inquest with a view to examining the responsibility of any of the police in having failed to protect him.
Held: The question amounted . .
Cited – Oxfam v Revenue and Customs ChD 27-Nov-2009
The charity appealed against refusal to allow it to reclaim input VAT. It also sought judicial review of the decision of the Tribunal not to allow it to raise an argument of legitimate expectation. The charity had various subsidiaries conducting . .
Cited – AC v Berkshire West Primary Care Trust, Equality and Human Rights Commissions intervening Admn 25-May-2010
The claimant, a male to female transsexual, challenged a decision by the respondent to refuse breast augmentation treatment. The Trust had a policy ‘GRS is a Low Priority treatment due to the limited evidence of clinical effectiveness and is not . .
Cited – Cala Homes (South) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another Admn 7-Feb-2011
The claimant sought judicial review of a statement and letter by the respondent making a material consideration for planning authorities the intended revocation by the Respondent of Regional Spatial Strategies. The effect would be to allow the . .
Cited – Cross, Regina (on the Application of) v Governor HM Young Offenders Institute Thorn Cross Admn 20-Jan-2004
The claimant prisoner challenged the governor’s refusal to release him on the home detention curfew scheme. Henriques J said: ‘no risk assessment is necessary in cases where a prisoner has committed a presumed unsuitable offence. It is only if there . .
Cited – Young, Regina (on The Application of) v Governor of Her Majesty’s Prison Highdown and Another Admn 6-Apr-2011
The claimant complained that he had not been considered for early release on Home Detention Curfew because the policy refused to allow those convicted of knife crimes to be so considered, and: ‘the failure to include other offences in the list of . .
Cited – Monica, Regina (on The Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 14-Dec-2018
Deception as to identity did not undermine consent
The claimant had been an environmental campaigner. She had had a sexual relationship with a man who was unknown to her an undercover police officer. She now challenged the decision not to prosecute him for rape.
Held: Her claim failed. Case . .
Cited – Finucane, Re Application for Judicial Review SC 27-Feb-2019
(Northern Ireland) The deceased solicitor was murdered in his home in 1989, allegedly by loyalists. They had never been identified, though collusion between security forces and a loyalist paramilitary was established. The ECHR and a judge led . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Administrative, Prisons
Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.187440
No sufficient expectation which could form the basis of a judicial review arose from an agreement for prison home leave which was later denied. The only legitimate expectation of the prisoners was to have their applications individually considered in light of whatever policy was in force at the time.
Hirst LJ
Times 03-Dec-1996, Gazette 05-Feb-1997, [1996] EWCA Civ 1006, [1997] 1 WLR 906
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina (Nadarajah) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Abdi v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 22-Nov-2005
The asylum applicant challenged a certificate given by the respondent that the claim for asylum was manifestly ill-founded. The respondent had made a mistake in applying the appropriate policy, but had sought to correct the error. The claimants . .
Cited – Finucane, Re Application for Judicial Review SC 27-Feb-2019
(Northern Ireland) The deceased solicitor was murdered in his home in 1989, allegedly by loyalists. They had never been identified, though collusion between security forces and a loyalist paramilitary was established. The ECHR and a judge led . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Criminal Practice, Administrative
Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.140873
The Claimant seeks a declaration that his detention by the Secretary of State for the Home Department [‘SSHD’] was unlawful from 22 October 2010 to 5 March 2012, in addition seeking damaging and costs.
[2012] EWHC 1081 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration, Prisons, Torts – Other
Updated: 16 January 2022; Ref: scu.453013
Gilbart QC
[2012] EWHC EWHC 2576 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.464547
Judicial review claim brought to challenge the claimant’s detention in custody following his extradition from Spain on 13 August 2014.
Laws LJ, Hamblen J
[2016] EWHC 719 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons, Criminal Practice, Extradition
Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.562885
The Honourable Mr Justice Morris
[2021] EWHC 1266 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 13 January 2022; Ref: scu.662652
Mr Justice Julian Knowles
[2020] EWHC 2842 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 13 January 2022; Ref: scu.655423
Challenge to decision not to allow the applicant and her former civil partner to share a prison cell.
Sir Stephen Silber
[2016] EWHC 606 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.561164
Where someone dies or is injured whilst in custody the burden is on the state to provide a ‘satisfactory and convincing explanation’ of what has happened: ‘Persons in custody are in a vulnerable position and the authorities are under a duty to protect them. Consequently, where an individual is taken into police custody in good health and is found to be injured on release, it is incumbent on the State to provide a plausible explanation of how those injuries were caused. The obligation on the authorities to account for the treatment of an individual in custody is particularly stringent where that individual dies . . Where the events in issue lie wholly, or in large part, within the exclusive knowledge of the authorities, as in the case of persons within their control in custody, strong presumptions of fact will arise in respect of injuries and death occurring during such detention. Indeed, the burden of proof may be regarded as resting on the authorities to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation.’
21986/93, [2000] 34 EHRR 425, [2000] ECHR 357
Worldlii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 2(1)
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Regina (Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department QBD 5-Oct-2001
An Asian youth was placed in a cell with another who was well known to be violent and racist. He was bludgeoned to death. The family sought a public investigation into how he came to be placed in such a position. An investigation had been refused by . .
Cited – Amin, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Oct-2003
Prisoner’s death – need for full public enquiry
The deceased had been a young Asian prisoner. He was placed in a cell overnight with a prisoner known to be racist, extremely violent and mentally unstable. He was killed. The family sought an inquiry into the death.
Held: There had been a . .
Cited – Middleton, Regina (on the Application of) v Coroner for the Western District of Somerset HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had committed suicide in prison. His family felt that the risk should have been known to the prison authorities, and that they had failed to guard against that risk. The coroner had requested an explanatory note from the jury.
Cited – D, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 28-Apr-2005
D was undergoing trial for offences and was held in prison. He self-harmed repeatedly, and was recorded to require extra vigilance. He attempted to hang himself. Prison staff saved his life, but he was left paraplegic, and was then detained under . .
Cited – Takoushis, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for Inner North London and others CA 30-Nov-2005
Relatives sought judicial review of the coroner’s decision not to allow a jury, and against allowance of an expert witness. The deceased had been a mental patient but had been arrested with a view to being hospitalised. He was taken first to the . .
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Mazin Mumaa Galteh Al-Skeini and Others) v The Secretary of State for Defence CA 21-Dec-2005
The claimants were dependants of Iraqi nationals killed in Iraq.
Held: The Military Police were operating when Britain was an occupying power. The question in each case was whether the Human Rights Act applied to the acts of the defendant. The . .
Cited – Keenan v The United Kingdom ECHR 3-Apr-2001
A young prisoner was known to be at risk of suicide, but nevertheless was not provided with adequate specialist medical supervision. He was punished for an offence, by way of segregation which further put him at risk.
Held: Inhuman and . .
Cited – JL, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice; Regina (L (A Patient)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 26-Nov-2008
The prisoner was left with serious injury after attempting suicide in prison. He said that there was a human rights duty to hold an investigation into the circumstances leading up to this.
Held: There existed a similar duty to hold an enhanced . .
Cited – Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MIND intervening) HL 10-Dec-2008
The deceased had committed suicide on escaping from a mental hospital. The Trust appealed against a refusal to strike out the claim that that they had been negligent in having inadequate security.
Held: The Trust’s appeal failed. The fact that . .
Cited – Smith, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence and Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) SC 30-Jun-2010
The deceased soldier died of heat exhaustion whilst on active service in Iraq. It was said that he was owed a duty under human rights laws, and that any coroner’s inquest should be a fuller one to satisfy the state’s duty under Article 2.
Human Rights, Prisons
Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.165895
The defendant sought to have the claim struck out. The prisoner said that the defendant’s probation officer had through misfeasance in public office arranged for his transfer back to secure conditions from open ones. The parole board panel had found ‘It was clear to the panel that the decision to return Mr Houchin to closed conditions, both as recorded by . . and on any other basis not then considered, was flawed, unreasonable, ill-motivated and invalid in a public law sense.’ The Secretary of state had rejected the finding, and the defendant had found no evidence to support the allegations against the officer.
Held: The claim was struck out. There was no reason for the officer to dislike the claimant, nor to seek to defend the Service as alleged. Others had reached similar conclusions to his own. The claimant had no prospect of succeeding.
Supperstone J
[2013] EWHC 794 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Racz v Home Office HL 17-Dec-1993
The Home Office can be liable for the actions of prison officers which amounted to an official misfeasance. The principles of vicarious liability apply as much to misfeasance in public office as to other torts involving malice, knowledge or . .
Cited – Three Rivers District Council and Others v Governor and Company of The Bank of England HL 18-May-2000
The applicants alleged misfeasance against the Bank of England in respect of the regulation of a bank.
Held: The Bank could not be sued in negligence, but the tort of misfeasance required clear evidence of misdeeds. The action was now properly . .
Cited – Hughes and others (By Their Litigation Friend) v Richards (Trading As Colin Richards and Co ) CA 9-Mar-2004
Parents and their children claimed against a tax adviser for negligence in relation to setting up an offshore trust. The defendant applied to strike out the children’s claim on the basis that the defendant owed them no duty of care and only the . .
Cited – Watkins v Home Office and others HL 29-Mar-2006
The claimant complained of misfeasance in public office by the prisons for having opened and read protected correspondence whilst he was in prison. The respondent argued that he had suffered no loss. The judge had found that bad faith was . .
Cited – Karagozlu v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis CA 12-Dec-2006
The claimant made a claim for misfeasance in public office. The defendant argued that such a claim required proof of special damage. The claimant said that the deprivation of liberty amounted to such damage. Whilst serving a prison sentence the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Torts – Other
Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.472249
The claimant was PR of a deceased prisoner, a young man who had hanged himself in a Young Offender’s Institution.
Supperstone J
[2010] EWHC 2248 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons, Negligence, Human Rights
Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.424885
A prisoner had hanged himself after being left unsupervised in a single cell. He was a known suicide risk, but the Coroner directed the jury not to return a verdict which included any reference to lack of care.
Held: A coroner was free not to leave a lack of care verdict to the jury where a doctor had taken the decision which led to the death, in a case of suicide of a prisoner. He could do so despite the statutory prohibition on any verdict being framed in such a way as to appear to determine any question of liability.
Sir Thomas Bingham MR set out the coroner’s duty: ‘It is the duty of the Coroner, as the public official responsible for the conduct of inquests, whether he is sitting with a jury or without, to ensure that the relevant facts are fully, fairly and fearlessly investigated. .’ The court gave guidance on directions to be given by coroners on the lack of care verdict: ‘It is not the function of a coroner or his jury to determine or appear to determine, any question of criminal or civil liability, to apportion guilt or attribute blame . . the prohibition on returning a verdict so as to appear to determine any question of civil liability is unqualified, applying whether anyone is named or not. Much of the difficulty to which verdicts of lack of care have given rise appear to be due to an almost inevitable confusion between this expression and the lack of care which is the foundation for a successful claim in common law negligence . . it is to be hoped that in future the expression ‘lack of care’ may for practical purposes be deleted from the lexicon of inquests and replaced by ‘neglect’. Neglect in this context means a gross failure to provide adequate nourishment or liquid, or provide basic medical attention or shelter or warmth for someone in a dependent position (because of youth, age, illness or incarceration) who cannot provide it for himself. Failure to provide medical attention for a dependent person whose physical condition is such as to show he obviously needs it may amount to neglect . . Neglect can rarely, if ever, be an appropriate verdict on its own . . Neglect may contribute to a death from natural causes. Neither neglect nor self-neglect should ever form any part of any verdict unless a clear and direct causal connection is established between the conduct so described and the cause of death.’
Times 23-Jul-1993, Ind Summary 18-Oct-1993, Ind Summary 06-Sep-1993, Guardian 12-Jul-1993
Coroners Act 1988
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Regina v North Humberside and Scunthorpe Coroner ex parte Jamieson CA 27-Apr-1994
The deceased prisoner had hanged himself. He had been a known suicide risk, and his brother said that the authorities being so aware, the death resulted from their lack of care. The inquest heard in full the circumstannces leading up to the death, . .
Cited – O’Reilly v Coventry Coroner QBD 3-Apr-1996
The inquest was said to have been flawed because relevant material was withheld from the jury, factual issues were not addressed, and the Coroner had refused to leave open the possibility of a verdict of lack of care or neglect. The deceased had . .
Cited – Takoushis, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for Inner North London and others CA 30-Nov-2005
Relatives sought judicial review of the coroner’s decision not to allow a jury, and against allowance of an expert witness. The deceased had been a mental patient but had been arrested with a view to being hospitalised. He was taken first to the . .
Cited – In re Catherine Lucy Clegg (an Application to Quash Inquisition on Inquest) Admn 2-Dec-1996
The father of the deceased sought an order quashing the inquest on her death. He had recorded a verdict of suicide. She had died from acute salicylate poisoning, an aspirin overdose. The hospital was said not to have recognised her condition and not . .
Cited – Parkin v HM Coroner for North Lincolnshire and Grimsby District Admn 23-Mar-2005
The family appealed against an open verdict. Her son was found hanged at school. The coroner felt unable to be sure that he had committed suicide. He had been looking forward to a new job as a theatre technician.
Held: There was evidence . .
Cited – Assistant Deputy Coroner of Inner West London v Paul and Another, Regina on the Application of CA 28-Nov-2007
The coroner appealed a judicial review granted after he allowed into evidence, hearsay evidence contained in a written statemnent from a witness who could not attend the inquest.
Held: Rule 37 does not allow the admission of a document, even . .
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 – Hurst, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v London Northern District Coroner HL 28-Mar-2007
The claimant’s son had been stabbed to death. She challenged the refusal of the coroner to continue with the inquest with a view to examining the responsibility of any of the police in having failed to protect him.
Held: The question amounted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Coroners, Prisons
Leading Case
Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.87445
Mr Justice Julian Knowles
[2020] EWHC 2846 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.655434
Edis J
[2016] EWHC 345 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.560267
Claim for judicial review is based upon the claimant’s contention that the conditions imposed upon his licence on release from prison as part of an extended sentence of four years imprisonment together with four years extended licence period are unlawful.
Dove J
[2016] EWHC 329 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Prisons
Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.560248
Application by detainees for judicial review of the decision of the Secretary of State to permit them to be interviewed by journalists but only if the interviews are conducted within earshot of officials and are tape recorded. The claimants challenge the monitoring conditions which the Secretary of State has imposed, contending that they contravene Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Kennedy LJ, Royce J
[2003] EWHC 2846 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Media, Prisons, Immigration
Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.188501
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3 with regard to the first applicant ; No violation of Art. 3 with regard to the other applicants ; No violation of Art. 8 ; No violation of Art. 13 ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award ; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings
The applicants alleged that the detention regime to which the first applicant was subjected in a maximum security prison constituted inhuman and/or degrading treatment and infringed their right to respect for their private and family life, and that they did not have an effective remedy in respect of their complaint of inhuman treatment. He was serving a term of fifteen years, and the prison authorities had concluded that he might use violence to try to escape. He complained that the conditions had caused his mental deterioration. His family complained that the additional lack of contact also damaged them.
Held: The prohibition against degrading treatment is absolute, but a regime must be seen as against its effect on a particular complainant. Weekly strip searches were unnecessary and damaging and infringed the applicant’s article 3 rights. The extra inspections and limits on contact with his family were capable of being an infringement of his right to family life. The authorities were entitled to consider that an escape by Mr Lorse would have posed a serious risk to society. The restrictions of the applicants’ right to respect for their private and family life did not go beyond what was necessary in a democratic society to attain the legitimate aims intended. The applicant’s situation was reviewed regularly, and various appeals had been heard. There was no violation of Article 13 of the Convention.
52750/99, [2003] ECHR 59
Worldlii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 3
Human Rights
Citing:
Cited – Labita v Italy ECHR 6-Apr-2000
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) No violation of Art. 3 with regard to alleged ill-treatment; Violation of Art. 3 with regard to lack of effective investigation; No violation of Art. 3 with regard to . .
Cited – The Republic of Ireland v The United Kingdom ECHR 18-Jan-1978
The UK lodged a derogation with the Court as regards its human rights obligations in Northern Ireland because of the need to control terroist activity. The Government of Ireland intervened. From August 1971 until December 1975 the UK authorities . .
Cited – Kudla v Poland ECHR 26-Oct-2000
Just what treatment is sufficiently severe to reach the high threshold required for a violation of article 3 ‘depends on all the circumstances of the case, such as the nature and context of the treatment, the manner and method of its execution, its . .
Cited – V v The United Kingdom; T v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Dec-1999
The claimant challenged to the power of the Secretary of State to set a tariff where the sentence was imposed pursuant to section 53(1). The setting of the tariff was found to be a sentencing exercise which failed to comply with Article 6(1) of the . .
Cited – Peers v Greece ECHR 19-Apr-2001
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3; No violation of Art. 6-2; Violation of Art. 8; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award
The question whether the purpose of the treatment was . .
Cited – Dougoz v Greece ECHR 6-Mar-2001
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3; Violation of Art. 5-1; Violation of Art. 5-4; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses . .
Cited – Aerts v Belgium ECHR 30-Jul-1998
A person detained as a person of unsound mind should not be kept in a prison, but if the institution concerned is within the appropriate category, there is no breach of Article 5. While measures depriving a person of his liberty often involve an . .
Cited – Messina v Italy ECHR 1999
The removal of a prisoner from association with other prisoners for security, disciplinary or protective reasons does not in itself amount to inhuman treatment or degrading punishment. It is an essential part of a prisoner’s right to respect for . .
Cited – Valasinas v Lithuania ECHR 24-Jul-2001
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3 with regard to body search; No violation of Art. 3 with regard to other complaints; Violation of Art. 8; No violation of Art. 34; Non-pecuniary . .
Cited – McFeeley and others v The United Kingdom ECHR 15-May-1980
(Commission) The claimants had been convicted of terrorist-type offences in Northern Ireland and were serving prisoners in HMP The Maze. They protested at a change of regime imposed in 1976, resulting in them not being permitted association with the . .
Cited – Kalashnikov v Russia ECHR 15-Jul-2002
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3; Violation of Art. 5-3; Violation of Art. 6-1; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses . .
Cited – Lacko and Others v Slovakia ECHR 2-Jul-2002
Article 13 does not mean a remedy bound to succeed, but simply an accessible remedy before an authority competent to examine the merits of a complaint. . .
Cited – Leander v Sweden ECHR 26-Mar-1987
Mr Leander had been refused employment at a museum located on a naval base, having been assessed as a security risk on the basis of information stored on a register maintained by State security services that had not been disclosed him. Mr Leander . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina (T) v the Secretary of State for the Home Department; similar CA 23-Sep-2003
The claimant asylum seeker had been refused benefits having failed to declare his application on entry. The Secretary now appealed a finding that the decision was flawed. Was the treatment of the applicant inhuman or degrading?
Held: No simple . .
Cited – Wainwright and another v Home Office HL 16-Oct-2003
The claimant and her son sought to visit her other son in Leeds Prison. He was suspected of involvement in drugs, and therefore she was subjected to strip searches. There was no statutory support for the search. The son’s penis had been touched . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Prisons
Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.178997
A person detained as a person of unsound mind should not be kept in a prison, but if the institution concerned is within the appropriate category, there is no breach of Article 5. While measures depriving a person of his liberty often involve an element of suffering or humiliation, it cannot be said that detention in a high security prison facility, be it on remand or following a criminal conviction, in itself raises an issue under Article 3 of the Convention. The Court’s task is limited to examining the personal situation of the applicant who has been affected by the regime concerned (Article 3).
25357/94, (1998) 29 EHRR 50, [1998] ECHR 64
Worldlii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 3 5-1 5-4 6-1
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Munjaz v Mersey Care National Health Service Trust And the Secretary of State for Health, the National Association for Mental Health (Mind) Respondent interested; CA 16-Jul-2003
The claimant was a mental patient under compulsory detention, and complained that he had been subjected to periods of seclusion.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The hospital had failed to follow the appropriate Code of Practice. The Code was not . .
Cited – Lorse and Others v The Netherlands ECHR 4-Feb-2003
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3 with regard to the first applicant ; No violation of Art. 3 with regard to the other applicants ; No violation of Art. 8 ; No violation of Art. 13 . .
Cited – PD, Regina (on the Application of) v West Midlands and North West Mental Health Review Tribunal Admn 22-Oct-2003
The claimant was detained as a mental patient. He complained that a consultant employed by the NHS Trust which detained him, also sat on the panel of the tribunal which heard the review of his detention.
Held: Such proceedings did engage the . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board ex parte Smith, Regina v Parole Board ex parte West (Conjoined Appeals) HL 27-Jan-2005
Each defendant challenged the way he had been treated on revocation of his parole licence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to make oral representations.
Held: The prisoners’ appeals were allowed.
Lord Bingham stated: . .
Cited – B, Regina (on the Application of) v Ashworth Hospital Authority HL 17-Mar-2005
The House was asked whether a patient detained for treatment under the 1983 Act can be treated against his will for any mental disorder from which he is suffering or only for the particular form of mental disorder from which he is classified as . .
Cited – Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority (Now Mersey Care National Health Service Trust) ex parte Munjaz HL 13-Oct-2005
The claimant was detained in a secure Mental Hospital. He complained at the seclusions policy applied by the hospital, saying that it departed from the Guidance issued for such policies by the Secretary of State under the Act.
Held: The House . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Health, Prisons
Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.165642