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 Human Rights, the Act being made outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament.
Held: The 2001 Act incorporated the Human Rights Convention into Scottish law. It should not be taken to take away any existing right. Accordingly when deciding the punitive part of a punishment so as to prevent reference of his case to the Parole Board, the court must take account any date already set for such a hearing.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell
Times 18-Mar-2004, [2004] UKPC D1
PC, Bailii
Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 2, Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act 2001
Citing:
Cited – Elliott (No 2) v HM Advocate 1997
When passing a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment a trial judge was required by section 218 of the 1975 Act to specify the date of the commencement of the sentence The question whether a mandatory life sentence should be backdated was not an . .
Cited – Wynne v United Kingdom ECHR 18-Jul-1994
A Discretionary lifer is not entitled to a review by a court of his continued detention. His article five rights were not breached. Where a national court imposed a fixed sentence of imprisonment, the supervision required by article 5.4 was . .
Cited – Thynne, Wilson and Gunnell v The United Kingdom ECHR 25-Oct-1990
The applicants, discretionary life prisoners, complained of a violation on the ground that they were not able to have the continued lawfulness of their detention decided by a court at reasonable intervals throughout their imprisonment.
Held: A . .
Cited – McCreaddie v Her Majesty’s Advocate HCJ 6-Sep-2002
. .
Cited – Stewart v Her Majesty’s Advocate HCJ 6-Sep-2002
The appellant had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in 1993. He was an existing adult mandatory life prisoner for the purposes of Part I of the Schedule to the 2001 Act. In 2002 the High Court specified the punishment part of his . .
Cited – Stafford v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-May-2002
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 . .
Cited – In Re Findlay, in re Hogben HL 1985
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 . .
Cited – Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2) HL 10-Jul-2003
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent of its property . .
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 by:
Cited – Uttley, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 30-Jul-2004
In 1995 the defendant was sentenced to twelve years for rapes committed in 1983. He complained that the consequences of the later sentence were adverse because of the 1991 Act. He would now serve three quarters of the sentence rather than two . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Scotland, Criminal Sentencing, Human Rights, Constitutional
Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.194651