The court was asked whether somebody detained under section 7 of the 2000 Act was entitled to be accompanied by a solicitor during questioning. The claimant was stopped at the airport on his return from Saudi Arabia. Police refused to await the arrival of his solicitor before starting to question him. They proceeded and he was released.
Held: The claim succeeded. Such a person was entitled to consult a solicitor before being questioned and in private ‘in person, in writing or on the telephone’. The right was clear, and existed independently of the question of whether the detention took place at a police station.
Bean J
[2013] EWHC 3397 (Admin), [2014] 1 WLR 239, [2013] WLR(D) 422, [2014] Crim LR 378
Bailii, WLRD
Terrorism Act 2000 7
England and Wales
Police, Legal Professions
Updated: 25 November 2021; Ref: scu.517471