McAtee, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Justice: CA 20 Dec 2018

The claimant prisoner sought to challenge the statutory licence regime as it applied to indeterminate prisoners. The parties disputed whether the Court of Appeal had jurisdiction which in turn depended upon whether the claim was criminal in nature.
Held: It did not follow from the case having criminal aspects that all associated claims were a ‘criminal cause or matter’. However the seeking of judicial review of the lawfulness of the statutory regime as to a decision regarding an indeterminate life prisoner on licence remained a criminal cause of matter, and appeal to the Court of Appeal would not lie.

Sir Brian Leveson P, Davis, Lewison LJJ
[2018] EWCA Civ 2851, [2019] WLR(D) 11
Bailii, WLRD
Senior Courts Act 1981 18(1)
England and Wales

Prisons, Litigation Practice

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.632678