Tag: Police

Taylor v Anderton (Police Complaints Authority Intervening): CA 19 Jan 1995

Reports, which had been prepared for the purposes of a police complaint procedure, could be entitled to protection from disclosure under a public interest immunity certificate. The court also considered the relationship between the documentation and the decision as to whether a trial wasto be by judge alone, or with a jury. Cost is also a consideration: ‘The case as it stands will be very lengthy, very expensive, very burdensome and very difficult to control if tried by a judge alone. If tried by a judge and jury it will be even lengthier, even more expensive, even more burdensome and even more difficult to control.’ The fact that sight of a document for inspection may give the inspecting party a litigious advantage in the litigation does not of itself make production of the document unfair: ‘The crucial consideration is, in my judgment, the meaning of the expression ‘disposing fairly of the cause or matter’. Those words direct attention to the question whether inspection is necessary for the fair determination of the matter, whether by trial or otherwise. The purpose of the rule is to ensure that one party does not enjoy an unfair advantage or suffer an unfair disadvantage in the litigation as a result of a document not being produced for inspection. It is, I think, of no importance that a party is curious about the contents of a document or would like to know the contents of it, if he suffers no litigious disadvantage by not seeing it and would gain no litigious advantage by seeing it. That, in my judgment, is the test.’

Judges:

Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Rose, Morritt LJJ

Citations:

Independent 28-Feb-1995, Gazette 15-Mar-1995, Times 19-Jan-1995, [1995] 1 WLR 447

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Right Hon Aitken MP and Preston; Pallister and Guardian Newspapers Ltd CA 15-May-1997
The defendants appealed against an order that a defamation trial should proced before a judge alone.
Held: ‘Where the parties, or one of them, is a public figure, or there are matters of national interest in question, this would suggest the . .
Cited – Branson v Snowden; Branson v Gtech UK Corporation (a Body Corporate) and Rendine CA 3-Jul-1997
The respective parties had been preparing competing bids for the National Lottery. One (Branson) alleged that the other had offerered a bribe. The other responded that the allegation was a lie, and each sued the other for defamation.
Held: The . .
Cited – Brooker and Brooker v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police CA 26-Oct-1998
The plaintiffs claimed damages against the respondents for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. By mistake the defendants disclosed a letter from a senior officer supporting the allegation, despite which the Police Complaints Authority had denied . .
Cited – Ashley and Another v Sussex Police CA 27-Jul-2006
The deceased was shot by police officers raiding his flat in 1998. The claimants sought damages for his estate. They had succeeded in claiming damages for false imprisonment, but now appealed dismissal of their claim for damages for assault and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Defamation, Litigation Practice

Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.89742

In Re G (A Minor) (Social Worker: Disclosure): CA 14 Nov 1995

A social worker may relate oral admissions made by parents to him to the police without first getting a court’s permission.
Butler-Sloss LJ said: ‘I would on balance and in the absence of argument give the more restrictive interpretation to r 4.23 and limit it to documents held by the court in the court file. I doubt that it extends to documents created for the purposes of the proceedings even if intended to be filed with the court, since they may not in fact become part of the court file. It is important that the rule should not be widely and loosely interpreted so as to bring within its ambit information at a stage when I am sure it was not intended to be covered and which would be contrary to wider considerations of the best interests of the child.’
Sir Roger Parker said: ‘The wording of rule 4.23 of the Family Proceedings Rules 1991 appears to me to be plain. Leave to disclose is only required in respect of documents and only in respect of documents held by the court . The rule thus follows established wardship practice as can be seen from the judgments of this Court in re D (Minors)(Wardship:Disclosure) [1994] 1 FLR 346. I can see neither need nor justification for extending the scope of the words so as to require leave for the disclosure of information imparted to a social worker and recorded in case notes or a report which for one reason or another has never reached the court. To do so would, in my view, not be construction but a complete rewriting of the rule and thus legislation, which is neither the function nor within the powers of the court. ‘

Judges:

Butler-Sloss LJ, Sir Roger Parker

Citations:

Times 14-Nov-1995, Gazette 06-Dec-1995, Independent 08-Dec-1995, [1996] 1 WLR 1407, [1996] 1 FLR 276

Statutes:

Family Proceedings Rules 1991 4.23

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 9-Feb-2010
. .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Children

Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.81901

Petukhova v Russia: ECHR 2 May 2013

Citations:

28796/07 – Chamber Judgment, [2013] ECHR 400

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Citing:

Legal Summary – Petukhova v Russia (Legal Summary) ECHR 2-May-2013
ECHR Article 5-1-b
Lawful order of a court
Detention in police station of person required by unlawfully issued court order to undergo psychiatric examination: violation
Facts – In January 2006 the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.491938

British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v The Central Criminal Court and Another: Admn 21 Dec 2011

The claimant challenged a production order made by the magistrates in respect of journalists’ material. They complained that the application had used secret evidence not disclosed to it, and that the judge had not given adequate reasons to support the decision. The poice were investigating an offence under the 1989 Act.
Held: It was common ground that neither the Civil nor the Criminal Procedure Rules contain any provisions governing an application under section 9 and schedule 1 of PACE. Paragraph 7 of schedule 1 requires the hearing to be conducted inter partes, but apart from that the only procedural requirement is that they be conducted in accordance with common law principles of fairness and the requirements of Article 6 of the ECHR.
The procedure adopted in this case was unlawful: ‘there was a failure to observe a fundamental principle of law bearing directly on the fairness of the proceedings, a matter which the court should be very slow to condone. Moreover, however carefully the judge considered the secret evidence, that can be no substitute for allowing B Sky B to challenge it, for the reasons given by Lord Kerr in Al Rawi.’

Judges:

Moore-Bick LJ, Bean J

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 3451 (Admin), [2012] 3 WLR 78, 2012 GWD 21-432, 2012 SCL 635, 2012 SCCR 562, [2012] 4 All ER 600, [2012] QB 785, [2012] HRLR 24

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 9, Official Secrets Act 1989 1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Malik v Manchester Crown Court and others; Re A Admn 19-Jun-2008
The claimant was a journalist writing about terrorism. He had interviewed a man with past connections with Al-Qaeda, and he now objected to a production order for documents obtained by him in connecion with his writings. The court had acted on . .
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 – 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 – 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 – Regina v Central Criminal Court Ex Parte Bright; Regina v Same, Ex Parte Rusbridger QBD 21-Jul-2000
An order was made for a journalist to disclose to the police material disclosed to him in connection with a prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. The journalist appealed the order, on the basis that it was in effect an order that he . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 12-Mar-2014
The court was asked as to the powers of Magistrates hearing an application for a search warrant to receive excluded or special procedure material which had not been disclosed to the respondent. The court had overturned an order made by the district . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Media, Magistrates, Human Rights, Natural Justice

Updated: 04 December 2022; Ref: scu.459730

Cronin, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and Another: Admn 20 Nov 2002

The applicant had had his premises searched. He sought to challenge the basis on which search warrant had been granted. He argued that under the Convention, it was necessary for the magistrates to provide a written record of the reasons for granting the warrant.
Held: Where the information laid was itself sufficient to account for the warrant a magistrate could be assumed to have acted upon it, and no further reasons were required to be noted. Warrants were often issued under conditions where such a requirement would be unreasonable. Here the magistrate would only have repeated the contents of the information. Where a magistrate elicited further information from the officer which affected the decision, it was necessary for that to be recorded.
Lord Woolf CJ said: ‘Information may contain details of an informer which it would be contrary to the public interest to reveal. The information may also contain other statements to which public interest immunity might apply. But, subject to that, if a person who is in the position of this claimant asks perfectly sensibly for a copy of the information, then speaking for myself I can see no objection to a copy of that information being provided. The citizen, in my judgment, should be entitled to be able to assess whether an information contains the material which justifies the issue of a warrant. This information contained the necessary evidence to justify issuing the warrant.’

Judges:

Lord Woolf of Barnes LCJ, Hallett, Stanley Burnton JJ

Citations:

Times 28-Nov-2002, Gazette 30-Jan-2003, [2002] EWHC 2568 (Admin), [2003] 1 WLR 752

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 23(3), European Convention on Human Rights Art 6 Art 8, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 8 15 16

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – AB and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court and Another Admn 10-Apr-2014
The claimants challenged the lawfuness of search warrants issued by the respondent court. They were solicitors, and were related to a person suspected of murder who was thought to have fled the country. The officers were looking for evidence that . .
Cited – Haralambous, Regina (on The Application of) v Crown Court at St Albans and Another SC 24-Jan-2018
The appellant challenged by review the use of closed material first in the issue of a search warrant, and subsequently to justify the retention of materials removed during the search.
Held: The appeal failed. No express statutory justification . .
Cited – Haralambous v St Albans Crown Court and Another Admn 22-Apr-2016
This judicial review raised for express decision whether a person whose premises have been searched and whose property seized under a search warrant must have enough information grounding the warrant to judge its lawfulness and the retention of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Police, Human Rights, Magistrates

Updated: 04 December 2022; Ref: scu.402518

Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Another: IPT 12 Feb 2016

‘hearing in respect of the claim by Privacy International, the well known NGO, and seven internet service providers, of which Greennet Limited carries on operations in this country and the other Claimants have customers in this country, though their main operations are based abroad. The hearing has been of preliminary issues of law, whose purpose is to establish whether, if the Second Respondent (‘GCHQ’) carries on the activity which is described as CNE (Computer Network Exploitation), which may have affected the Claimants, it has been lawful.’

Judges:

Burton P, Mitting VP JJ

Citations:

[2016] UKIPTrib 14 – 85-CH

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Intelligence Services Act 1994, Computer Misuse Act 1990 1 3 10

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Liberty (The National Council of Civil Liberties) v The Government Communications Headquarters and Others IPT 5-Dec-2014
The Claimants’ complaints alleged the unlawfulness pursuant to Article 8 (and collaterally Article 10) of the European Convention of Human Rightsof certain assumed activities of the Security Service (also, and colloquially, known as MI5), the Secret . .
Cited – RE v The United Kingdom ECHR 27-Oct-2015
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 23 November 2022; Ref: scu.564196

JR38, Re Application for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland): SC 1 Jul 2015

The appellant was now 18 years old. In July 2010 two newspapers published an image of him. He was at that time barely 14 years old. These photographs had been published by the newspapers at the request of the police. The publication of the appellant’s photographs and those of others who had been involved in public disorder in Londonderry was part of a police campaign known as ‘Operation Exposure’ which was designed to counteract sectarian rioting at what are called ‘interface areas’ in parts of Derry. Interface areas are situated at the boundaries of parts of the city which are predominantly inhabited by one or other of the two main communities.
The appellant argues that publication of photographs of him constituted a violation of his article 8 rights. ‘
Held: The appeal failed. The publication of his photograph was not an infringement of the applicant’s human rights.
There was, per Lords Kerr and Wilson, in interference in his rights, but that interference was proportionate and justified.
Lords Toulson, Clarke, and Hodge did not think that there had been an interference with the appellant’s human rights, because in the circumstances there had been no expectation of privacy.
Lord Toulson JSC said: ‘ In Campbell’s case Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead said at para 21 that ‘Essentially the touchstone of private life is whether in respect of the disclosed facts the person in question had a reasonable expectation of privacy’. He also warned that courts need to be on guard against using as a touchstone a test which brings into account considerations which should more properly be considered at the later stage of proportionality. Applying Campbell’s case, Sir Anthony Clarke MR said in Murray’s case at para 35 that ‘The first question is whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy’. He said at para 36 that the question is a broad one which takes account of all the circumstances of the case, including the attributes of the claimant, the nature of the activity in which the claimant was involved, the place at which it was happening, and the nature and purpose of the intrusion. The principled reason for the ‘touchstone’ is that it focuses on the sensibilities of a reasonable person in the position of the person who is the subject of the conduct complained about in considering whether the conduct falls within the sphere of article 8 . If there could be no reasonable expectation of privacy, or legitimate expectation of protection, it is hard to see how there could nevertheless be a lack of respect for their article 8 rights.”

Judges:

Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge

Citations:

[2015] HRLR 13, [2015] UKSC 42, [2015] WLR(D) 280, [2016] AC 1131, [2015] 3 WLR 155, [2015] EMLR 25, [2015] 4 All ER 90, UKSC 2013/0181

Links:

Bailii, WLRD, SC, SC Summary, Bailii Summary

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 8

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Citing:

Appeal from – JR 38, Re Judicial Review QBNI 21-Mar-2013
Application for judicial review of a decision by the PSNI to release to local newspapers for publication images of persons suspected of being involved in sectarian rioting and violent offending at an interface area at Fountain Street/Bishop Street . .
Cited – X v Iceland ECHR 18-May-1976
The right to respect for private life was held to ‘comprise also, to a certain degree, the right to establish and develop relationships with other human beings’. . .
Cited – Niemietz v Germany ECHR 16-Dec-1992
A lawyer complained that a search of his offices was an interference with his private life.
Held: In construing the term ‘private life’, ‘it would be too restrictive to limit the notion of an ‘inner circle’ in which the individual may live his . .
Cited – Rotaru v Romania ECHR 4-May-2000
Grand Chamber – The applicant, a lawyer, complained of a violation of his right to respect for his private life on account of the use against him by the Romanian Intelligence Service of a file which contained information about his conviction for . .
Cited – PG and JH v The United Kingdom ECHR 25-Sep-2001
The use of covert listening devices within a police station was an infringement of the right to privacy, since there was no system of law regulating such practices. That need not affect the right to a fair trial. The prosecution had a duty to . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – Sidabras And Dziautas v Lithuania ECHR 27-Jul-2004
Former KGB officers complained that they were banned, not only from public sector employment, but also from many private sector posts. This ‘affected [their] ability to develop relationships with the outside world to a very significant degree, and . .
Cited – Sciacca v Italy ECHR 11-Jan-2005
The court was asked whether the applicant’s rights under Article 8 had been infringed by the release to the press of an identity photograph taken of her by the Italian Revenue Police while she was under arrest and investigation for various criminal . .
Cited – Cemalettin Canli v Turkey ECHR 18-Nov-2008
The Court found interference in the applicant’s right to respect of his private life in that the police prepared and submitted to a domestic court an inaccurate report in the context of criminal proceedings against him. . .
Cited – Reklos and Davourlis v Greece ECHR 15-Jan-2009
(Press release) The court considered the rights when photographs were taken in public: ‘the court finds that it is not insignificant that the photographer was able to keep the negatives of the offending photographs, in spite of the express request . .
Cited – Wood v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 21-May-2009
The appellant had been ostentatiously photographed by the police as he left a company general meeting. He was a peaceful and lawful objector to the Arms Trade. He appealed against refusal of an order for the records to be destroyed. The police had . .

Cited by:

Cited – Weller and Others v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 20-Nov-2015
The three children of a musician complained of the publication of photographs taken of them in a public place in California. . .
Cited – NT 1 and NT 2 v Google Llc QBD 13-Apr-2018
Right to be Forgotten is not absolute
The two claimants separately had criminal convictions from years before. They objected to the defendant indexing third party web pages which included personal data in the form of information about those convictions, which were now spent. The claims . .
Cited – Richard v The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Another ChD 18-Jul-2018
Police suspect has outweighable Art 8 rights
Police (the second defendant) had searched the claimant’s home in his absence in the course of investigating allegations of historic sexual assault. The raid was filmed and broadcast widely by the first defendant. No charges were brought against the . .
Cited – ZXC v Bloomberg Lp CA 15-May-2020
Privacy Expecation during police investigations
Appeal from a judgment finding that the Defendant had breached the Claimant’s privacy rights. He made an award of damages for the infraction of those rights and granted an injunction restraining Bloomberg from publishing information which further . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Police, Human Rights, Family

Updated: 23 November 2022; Ref: scu.549907

H and H v The Police Federation of Great Britain: IPT 28 Feb 2005

IPT The Tribunal found that a police force’s use of covert surveillance against a police officer breached his Article 8 rights as it had no lawful authority for the surveillance activities it undertook (but its decision is overtaken by C v The Police (IPT/03/32) in 2006)

Citations:

[2005] UKIPTrib 03 – 23

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.525994

Rhodes, Regina (on The Application of) v Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire: Admn 28 Mar 2013

The claimant sought to challenge a decision of the respondent to suspend him as Chief Constable.
Held: The terms of regulation 4(1) confer a broad discretion on the appropriate authority. However, that discretion is subject to the conditions in reg. 4(2). An officer can only be suspended in the public interest if this course is ‘required’. This ‘carries the implication that the public interest leaves no other course open’.

Judges:

Stuart-Smith J

Citations:

[2013] EWHC 1009 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police (Conduct) Regulations 2004 4

Cited by:

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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 17 November 2022; Ref: scu.472997

Baker v Police Appeals Tribunal: Admn 27 Mar 2013

The claimant a former police constable sought judicial review of a decision made by the tribunal, saying that it had had no jurisdiction to make it. The respondent tribunal, having now accepted that it had not had the power it exercised, being then functus officio, nevertheless maintained that the decision should not be quashed where injustice would follow.

Judges:

Leggatt J

Citations:

[2013] EWHC 718 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996, Police Appeals Tribunals Rules 2008 22

Citing:

Cited – Berkeley v Secretary of State For The Environment and Others HL 11-May-2000
The claimant challenged the grant of planning permission for a new football ground for Fulham Football club, saying that an Environmental Impact Assessment had not been obtained, but was required.
Held: Where a planning application if . .
Cited – Toth and Another, Regina (On The Application of) v General Medical Council Admn 23-Jun-2000
Lightman J said: ‘The general principle is well established that, if an applicant establishes in judicial review proceedings that the decision which he challenges is bad in law, he should be granted relief, and most particularly an order quashing . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.472072

Kelly v Commissioner of Police for Metropolis: CA 22 Jul 1997

Some forms used by police in reports to the Crown Prosecution Service attract public interest immunity from disclosure in an action against police. Public Interest Immunity is not subject to distinction between task of investigating a complaint and of reporting an investigation.

Citations:

Gazette 03-Sep-1997, Times 20-Aug-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2160

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Administrative, Police, Litigation Practice

Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.82714

Telegraaf Media Nederland Landelijke Media Bv And Others v The Netherlands: ECHR 22 Nov 2012

The ECtHR considered that, in cases of the targeted surveillance of journalists in order to discover their sources, prior review by an independent body with the power to prevent or terminate it was necessary. The point that the confidentiality of journalistic sources cannot be restored once it is destroyed.

Citations:

39315/06 – HEJUD, [2012] ECHR 1965

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 10

Cited by:

Cited – Secretary of State for The Home Department v Davis MP and Others CA 20-Nov-2015
The Secretary of State appealed against a ruling that section 1 of the 2014 Act was inconsistent wih European law.
Held: The following questions were referred to the CJEU:
(1) Did the CJEU in Digital Rights Ireland intend to lay down . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Media, Police

Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465974

Rawlinson and Hunter Trustee and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Central Criminal Court and Another: Admn 31 Jul 2012

The claimants sought to have search warrants issued under the 1987 Act set aside, saying that they had been procured by non-disclosure and misrepresentation.
Held: The search warrants were set aside: ‘the fact that one or more suspects have already had an opportunity to collude does not necessarily mean that they should be given a further opportunity to do so, especially where collusion has already occurred.’

Judges:

Sir John Thomas P, Silber J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 2254 (Admin), [2013] Lloyd’s Rep FC 132, [2013] 1 WLR 1634

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1987 2(4)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Main judgment – Rawlinson and Hunter Trustees Sa and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Central Criminal Court and Another Admn 15-Nov-2012
. .
Cited – Lord Hanningfield of Chelmsford v Chief Constable of Essex Police QBD 15-Feb-2013
The claimant sought damages alleging unlawful arrest and search and detention. He had served a term of imprisonment for having made false expenses claims to the House of Lords. This raid occurred on his release. The arrest was planned and made to . .
Cited – Mills and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Sussex Police and Another Admn 25-Jul-2014
The claimants faced criminal charges involving allegations of fraud and corruption. They now challenged by judicial review a search and seizure warrant saying that it was unlawful. A restraint order had been made against them and they had complied . .
Cited – McCann v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 21-Aug-2015
Appeal by case stated against conviction for obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty. The appellant had been protesting. She, correctly, thought the land to be a rivate highway. The police officer had thought it a public hghway and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Magistrates

Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463360

Leeds United Football Club Ltd v The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police: QBD 24 Jul 2012

The court was asked whether the West Yorkshire Police are able to recoup from Leeds United Football Club the very considerable costs of public order policing and crowd control around the immediate environs of the Club premises, before and after matches, or whether they are confined to recovering in respect of special police services on land which is owned, leased or directly controlled by the Club.

Judges:

Eady J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 2113 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.463111

In Re C (A Minor) (Care Proceedings: Disclosure); Re EC (Disclosure of Material): CA 22 Oct 1996

Guidance was to the courts on disclosure of care proceedings statements etc to police. But for section 12 it would have been contempt of court to have disclosed to the police matters before the children’s court.

Citations:

Times 22-Oct-1996, [1997] Fam 76, [1996] 2 FLR 725

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 12 98

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children’s Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) FD 19-Mar-2004
The council had taken the applicant’s children into care alleging that the mother had harmed them. In the light of the subsequent cases casting doubt on such findings, the mother sought the return of her children. She applied now that the hearings . .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Police

Updated: 01 November 2022; Ref: scu.81781

Tuthill v The Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 15 Nov 2011

The defendant appealed against his conviction, saying that the evidence was obtained by means of an unlawful search by an officer.

Judges:

Sir John Thomas P BD, Wyn Williams J

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 3760 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Public Order Act 1986

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Marshall v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 17-Jun-2015
A car was seen speeding. Husband and wife each said that they did not know who was driving it in response to notices requiring that information. Mrs M now appealed against her conviction under section 172. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Police

Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.459727

Silcott v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: CA 24 May 1996

The claimant had been convicted of the murder of PC Blakelock. The only substantial evidence was in the form of the notes of interview he said were fabricated by senior officers. His eventual appeal on this basis was not resisted. He now appealed against the striking out of his actions for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and misfeasance in public office. He had remained in prison after conviction on another charge of murder.
Held: The appeal failed. The public policy purposes underlying the immunity were essentially two-fold. First, as in Munster, namely ‘. . to protect persons acting bona fide, who under a different rule would be liable, not perhaps to verdicts and judgments against them, but to the vexation of defending actions’ and secondly as in Roy v. Prior ‘. . to avoid a multiplicity of actions in which the value or truth of their evidence would be tried over again.’

Judges:

Simon Brown LJ, Neill LJ, Waite LJ

Citations:

Times 09-Jul-1996, [1996] 8 Admin LR 633, [1996] EWCA Civ 1311

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Roy v Prior HL 1970
The court considered an alleged tort of maliciously procuring an arrest. The plaintiff had been arrested under a bench warrant issued as a result of evidence given by the defendant. He sued the defendant for damages for malicious arrest.
Held: . .
Cited – Munster v Lamb CA 1883
Judges and witness, including police officers are given immunity from suit in defamation in court proceedings.
Fry LJ said: ‘Why should a witness be able to avail himself of his position in the box and to make without fear of civil consequences . .
Cited – Dawkins v Lord Rokeby 1873
dawkins_rokeby1873
Police officers (among others) are immune from any action that may be brought against them on the ground that things said or done by them in the ordinary course of the proceedings were said or done falsely and maliciously and without reasonable and . .
Cited – Evans v London Hospital Medical College and Others 1981
The defendants employed by the first defendant carried out a post mortem on the plaintiff’s infant son. They found concentrations of morphine and told the police. The plaintiff was charged with the murder of her son. After further investigation no . .
Cited – Marrinan v Vibert CA 2-Jan-1963
A tortious conspiracy was alleged in the conduct of a civil action. The plaintiff appealed against rejection of his claim.
Held: The appeal failed as an attempt to circumvent the immunity of a wirness in defamation by framing a claim in . .
Cited – Marrinan v Vibart CA 2-Jan-1962
Two police officers gave evidence in a criminal prosecution of others, that the plaintiff, a barrister, had behaved improperly by obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty and subsequently gave similar evidence at an inquiry before . .
Cited – Lincoln v Daniels CA 1961
The defendant claimed absolute immunity in respect of communications sent by him to the Bar Council alleging professional misconduct by the plaintiff, a Queen’s Counsel.
Held: Initial communications sent to the secretary of the Bar Council . .
Cited – Marrinan v Vibart CA 1962
The court considered an action in the form an attempt to circumvent the immunity of a witness at civil law by alleging a conspiracy.
Held: The claim was rejected. The court considered the basis of the immunity from action given to witnesses. . .
Cited – Martin v Watson HL 13-Jul-1995
The plaintiff had been falsely reported to the police by the defendant, a neighbour, for indecent exposure whilst standing on a ladder in his garden. He had been arrested and charged, but at a hearing before the Magistrates’ Court, the Crown . .

Cited by:

Cited – Darker v Chief Constable of The West Midlands Police HL 1-Aug-2000
The plaintiffs had been indicted on counts alleging conspiracy to import drugs and conspiracy to forge traveller’s cheques. During the criminal trial it emerged that there had been such inadequate disclosure by the police that the proceedings were . .
Cited – Taylor and Others v Director of The Serious Fraud Office and Others HL 29-Oct-1998
The defendant had requested the Isle of Man authorities to investigate the part if any taken by the plaintiff in a major fraud. No charges were brought against the plaintiff, but the documents showing suspicion came to be disclosed in the later . .
Cited – General Medical Council v Professor Sir Roy Meadow, Attorney General CA 26-Oct-2006
The GMC appealed against the dismissal of its proceedings for professional misconduct against the respondent doctor, whose expert evidence to a criminal court was the subject of complaint. The doctor said that the evidence given by him was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.89263

Lancashire County Council v Municipal Mutual Insurance Ltd: CA 3 Apr 1996

The defendant agreed to indemnify the insured ‘in respect of all sums which the insured shall become legally liable to pay as compensation arising out of’ various matters including wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. The insurer contended that the use of the word ‘compensation’ excluded awards of exemplary damages.
Held: The contention was rejected. Insurance for local authorities and police authorities against vicarious liability including for criminal liability and for exemplary damages is not unlawful. The words of the clause ‘all sums which the insured shall become legally liable to pay as compensation’ was not clear as to its extent, and was not to be limited to any claim for compensation as such. Exemplary damages went beyond pure compensation but were included. Nor was there any public policy against insuring for liability for criminal conduct.
Simon Brown LJ discussed the use of public policy as an aid to construction: ‘The only way in which public policy can properly be invoked in the construction of a contract is under the rule ut res magis valeat quam pereat: if the words are susceptible of two meanings, one of which would validate the particular clause or contract and the other render it void or ineffective, then the former interpretation should be applied even though it might otherwise, looking merely at the words and their context, be less appropriate.’ and
‘Although I accept Mr. Glasgow’s submission that the natural and ordinary meaning of ‘compensation’ in the context of a legal liability to pay damages is one which excludes any element of exemplary damages, I cannot accept that this meaning is wholly clear and unambiguous. On the contrary it involves very much a literal, lawyer’s understanding of the term and is one which would not command universal acceptance. Many, including no doubt most recipients, would regard compensation to mean instead all damages (of whatever character and however calculated) payable to the victim of a tort.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Staughton, Lord Justice Simon Brown and Lord Justice Thorpe

Citations:

Gazette 05-Jun-1996, Times 08-Apr-1996, [1997] QB 897, [1996] EWCA Civ 1345, [1996] 3 All ER 545, [1996] 3 WLR 493, [1996] CLC 1459

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – AB v South West Water Services Ltd CA 1993
Exemplary and aggravated damages were claimed in an action for nuisance arising out of the contamination of water by the defendant utility.
Held: Sir Thomas Bingham MR said: ‘A defendant accused of crime may ordinarily be ordered (if . .
Cited – Riches v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 20-Feb-1985
The defendant published serious defamatory allegations against several plaintiff police officers. The defendant newspaper appealed against an award of andpound;250,000 exemplary damages for their defamation of the respondent police officers.

Cited by:

Cited – Barrett v Universal-Island Records Ltd and others ChD 15-May-2006
The claimant was entitled to share in the copyright royalties of Bob Marley and the Wailers, and claimed payment from the defendants. The defendants said that the matters had already been settled and that the claim was an abuse of process, and also . .
Cited – Bedfordshire Police Authority v Constable and others ComC 20-Jun-2008
The authority insured its primary liability for compensation under the 1886 Act through the claimants and the excess of liability through re-insurers. The parties sought clarification from the court of the respective liabilities of the insurance . .
Cited – Mulcaire v News Group Newspapers Ltd ChD 21-Dec-2011
The claimant, a private investigator had contracted with the News of the World owned by the defendant but since closed. He had committed criminal offences in providing information for the paper, had been convicted and had served his sentence. He . .
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others SC 22-Apr-2015
The liquidators of Bilta had brought proceedings against former directors and the appellant alleging that they were party to an unlawful means conspiracy which had damaged the company by engaging in a carousel fraud with carbon credits. On the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Torts – Other, Local Government, Police

Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.82914

Ancell v McDermott: CA 29 Jan 1993

The plaintiff sought damages in negligence. Diesel had been spilled on the road. Though police officers saw it and took basic steps, the deceased was in a car which skidded on the diesel some time later.

Judges:

Beldam LJ

Citations:

[1993] EWCA Civ 20, [1993] 4 All ER 355

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Welton, Welton v North Cornwall District Council CA 17-Jul-1996
The defendant authority appealed a finding that it was liable in negligence from the conduct of one of its environmental health officers. The plaintiff had set out to refurbish and open a restaurant. He said the officer gave him a list of things he . .
Cited – Welton, Welton v North Cornwall District Council CA 17-Jul-1996
The defendant authority appealed a finding that it was liable in negligence from the conduct of one of its environmental health officers. The plaintiff had set out to refurbish and open a restaurant. He said the officer gave him a list of things he . .
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 – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Negligence, Police

Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.262593

Regina v Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police, Ex Parte Wiley Etc: CA 30 Sep 1993

Police complaints documents’ use may be restricted in civil proceedings.

Citations:

Times 30-Sep-1993, Independent 08-Oct-1993, Gazette 08-Dec-1993

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Chief Constable of West Midlands Ex Parte Wiley; Regina v Chief Constable Notts Ex Parte Sunderland QBD 24-Feb-1993
Police were not to use a complaint statements in civil litigation. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police Ex Parte Wiley; Other Similar HL 14-Jul-1994
Statements made to the police to support a complaint against the police, were not part of the class of statements which could attract public interest immunity, and were therefore liable to disclosure.
Lord Woolf said: ‘The recognition of a new . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Police

Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.86368

Regina v Chief Constable of West Midlands Ex Parte Carroll: CA 10 May 1994

A Chief Constable was wrong to dispense with a probationer’s services without giving him a chance to reply.

Citations:

Ind Summary 06-Jun-1994

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kay, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police Admn 18-Jan-2010
Having succeeded in her claim as to the lawfulness of the decision of the defendant to end her appointment as a probationary constable, the claimant now sought an order mandating her continued employment by the defendant. She had been acquitted of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.86369

Davidson v Chief Constable of North Wales Police and Another: CA 31 May 1993

A store detective said the plaintiffs had stolen from the store. He was wrong. The plaintiffs sought damages from the defendant for false imprisonment.
Held: If the police use their own discretion to arrest a suspect, an informer is not liable for false imprisonment. The intervention by the police breaks any causation of the store detectives. The officer was not liable under the 1984 Act. The question was whether a defendant to a claim for false imprisonment had ‘himself been the instigator, promoter and active inciter of the action (namely, the arrest that followed)’.
Sir Thomas Bingham MR said: ‘Accordingly, as it would seem to me, the question which arose for . . Decision . . was whether there was information properly to be considered by the jury as to whether what [the defendant] did went beyond laying information before police officers for them to take such action as they thought fit, and amounted to some direction, or procuring, or direct request, or direct encouragement that they should act by way of arresting [the plaintiffs].’
The test of the store detective’s conduct was whether he: ‘went beyond laying information before police officers for them to take such action as they thought fit and amounted to some direction, or procuring, or direct request, or direct encouragement that they should act by way of arresting these defendants.’
As to the case of M, Laws J’s reasoning was approved but not the conclusion: ‘The judge goes straight from a finding that the hospital managers were entitled to act upon an apparently valid application to the conclusion that the applicant’s detention was therefore not unlawful. That is, in my judgment, a non sequitur. It is perfectly possible that the hospital managers were entitled to act on an apparently valid application, but that the detention was in fact unlawful. If that were not so the implications would, in my judgment, be horrifying. It would mean that an application which appeared to be in order would render the detention of a citizen lawful even though it was shown or admitted that the approved social worker purporting to make the application was not an approved social worker, that the registered medical practitioners whose recommendations founded the application were not registered medical practitioners or had not signed the recommendations, and that the approved social worker had not consulted the patient’s nearest relative or had consulted the patient’s nearest relative and that relative had objected. In other words, it would mean that the detention was lawful even though every statutory safeguard built into the procedure was shown to have been ignored or violated.’

Judges:

Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Staughton LJ

Citations:

Ind Summary 31-May-1993, [1994] 2 All ER 597

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 24(6)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Overruled – Regina v Managers of South Western Hospital and Another, Ex Parte M QBD 24-Mar-1993
The patient was detained on the application of an AMHP. In purported pursuance of section 11(4) the AMHP had consulted the patient’s mother as her nearest relative. However, the patient’s mother was not ordinarily resident in the UK, and, according . .

Cited by:

Cited – Keegan and Others v Chief Constable of Merseyside CA 3-Jul-2003
The police had information suggesting (wrongly) that a fugitive resided at an address. An armed raid followed, and the claimant occupant sought damages.
Held: The tort of malicious procurement of a search warrant required it to be established . .
Cited – ID and others v The Home Office (BAIL for Immigration Detainees intervening) CA 27-Jan-2005
The claimants sought damages and other reliefs after being wrongfully detained by immigration officers for several days, during which they had been detained at a detention centre and left locked up when it burned down, being released only by other . .
Cited – Prison Officers Association v Iqbal CA 4-Dec-2009
The claimant, a prisoner, alleged false imprisonment. The prison officers had taken unlawful strike action leaving him to be confined within his cell and unable to be involved in his normal activities. In view of the strike, a governor’s order had . .
Cited – TTM v London Borough of Hackney and Others CA 14-Jan-2011
The claimant had been found to have been wrongfully detained under section 3. He appealed against rejection of his claim for judicial review and for damages. The court found that his detention was lawful until declared otherwise. He argued that the . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis v Copeland CA 22-Jul-2014
The defendant appealed against the award of damages for assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosection, saying that the question posed for the jury were misdirections, and that the jury’s decision was perverse. The claimant was attending the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.79827

Regina v Cooke (Stephen): CACD 10 Aug 1994

A sample of hair taken without the suspect’s consent was not an intimate sample, and did not require the associated permissions and procedures. Evidence derived from such a sample was accordingly admissible in evidence.

Citations:

Ind Summary 05-Sep-1994, Times 10-Aug-1994, Gazette 07-Oct-1994

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 65

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Criminal Evidence

Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.86435

Waters v Commissioner of Police for Metropolis: CA 3 Jul 1997

Citations:

[1997] EWCA Civ 2012

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Waters v Commissioner of Police of Metropolis EAT 17-Nov-1994
. .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Waters v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis HL 27-Jul-2000
A policewoman, having made a complaint of serious sexual assault against a fellow officer complained again that the Commissioner had failed to protect her against retaliatory assaults. Her claim was struck out, but restored on appeal.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Discrimination, Negligence

Updated: 19 October 2022; Ref: scu.142409

Regina v Chief Constable of Sussex, Ex Parte International Trader’s Ferry Ltd: QBD 28 Jul 1995

A Chief Constable may not limit his duty to his immediate community if this interfered with lawful exports within the community. It was for the Chief Constable to decide on the disposition of his forces and the use of his resources. He was fully entitled to take into account the size of his force, the need to perform other police functions and his budget. ‘We are quite unable to say that this Chief Constable’s decisions, taken as a whole, were such that as a matter of domestic law we can intervene.’

Citations:

Times 31-Jul-1995, Independent 28-Jul-1995, [1996] QB 197

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Chief Constable of Sussex Ex Parte International Trader’s Ferry Ltd CA 28-Jan-1997
A restriction placed by a chief constable on the police support he would make available to support a lawful trade was reasonable, even though it might amount to trade interference. The allocation of resources available to the Chief Constable was for . .
At First Instance – Regina v Chief Constable of Sussex, ex Parte International Trader’s Ferry Limited HL 2-Apr-1998
Chief Constable has a Wide Discretion on Resources
Protesters sought to prevent the appellant’s lawful trade exporting live animals. The police provided assistance, but then restricted it, pleading lack of resources. The appellants complained that this infringed their freedom of exports under . .
Cited – Corner House Research and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v The Serious Fraud Office HL 30-Jul-2008
SFO Director’s decisions reviewable
The director succeeded on his appeal against an order declaring unlawful his decision to discontinue investigations into allegations of bribery. The Attorney-General had supervisory duties as to the exercise of the duties by the Director. It had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, European

Updated: 22 September 2022; Ref: scu.86361

P v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis: SC 25 Oct 2017

This appeal concerns the directly effective right of police officers under EU law to have the principle of equal treatment applied to them. The question raised is whether the enforcement of that right by means of proceedings in the Employment Tribunal is barred by the principle of judicial immunity, where the allegedly discriminatory conduct is that of persons conducting a misconduct hearing. The claimant officer had suffered a serious assault followed by post-traumatic stress. She had complained that she was not given the support she needed, and that this was discriminatory. She said that the stress had led to bizarre behaviours which resulted in misconduct hearings, and her dismissal.
Held: The appeal succeeded, and the case was remitted to the ET. The reasoning in Heath v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis in relation to EU law was unsound.
‘ the right not to be discriminated against on grounds including disability is a fundamental right in EU law, protected by article 21(1) of the Charter. It follows that, even if it is designed to protect the officer under investigation, the creation of a statutory process which entrusts disciplinary functions in relation to police officers to persons whose conduct might arguably attract judicial immunity under domestic law cannot have the effect of barring complaints by the officers to an Employment Tribunal that they have been treated by those persons in a manner which is contrary to the Directive. National rules in relation to judicial immunity, like other national rules, can be applied in accordance with EU law only in so far as they are consistent with EU law’

Judges:

Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed, Lord Hughes

Citations:

[2017] UKSC 65, [2018] 1 All ER 1011, [2017] WLR(D) 696, [2018] ICR 560, [2018] IRLR 66, UKSC 2016/0041

Links:

Bailii, Bailii Summary, WLRD, SC, SC Summary, SC Video Summary, SC 20170503 am Video, SC 20170503 pm Video, SC 20170504 am Video, SC 20170504 pm Video

Statutes:

Police (Conduct) Regulations 2008, Police Reform Act 2002, Equality Act 2010 39, Employment Rights Act 1996 103A, Council Directive 2000/78/EC 2(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

At EAT – The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis v Keohane EAT 4-Mar-2014
EAT PREGNANCY AND DISCRIMINATION
An Employment Tribunal found that a Police dog handler, one of whose two narcotics Police dogs was removed from her when she told the force she was pregnant, had suffered a . .
At CA – P v The Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis CA 20-Jan-2016
The claimant appealed against rejection of her claim of disability discrimination against the Police Misconduct Panel on the basis that the Panel was a judicial body and as such enjoyed immunity from suit. She had been assaulted, suffering PTSD. She . .
Cited – Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentacion SA ECJ 13-Nov-1990
Sympathetic construction of national legislation
LMA OVIEDO sought a declaration that the contracts setting up Commercial International were void (a nullity) since they had been drawn up in order to defraud creditors. Commercial International relied on an EC . .
Cited – Commission v Italy (Principles Of Community Law) French Text ECJ 24-Nov-2011
Failure of a Member State to fulfill obligations – General principle of the responsibility of the Member States for breach of Union law by one of their courts ruling in the last resort – Exclusion of all State responsibility on the basis of an . .
Cited – Kobler v Republik Osterreich ECJ 30-Sep-2003
The claimant’s claim had been presented to the Supreme Administrative Court in Austria, who had referred a question to the ECJ. Following the Schoning decision, the court withdrew the referral, and dismissed the claim. He now claimed damages from . .
Cited – Marshall v Southampton and South West Hampshire Area Health Authority (No 2) ECJ 2-Aug-1993
The UK law limiting awards of damages in sex discrimination cases is unlawful, and fails to implement European directive fully. Financial compensation must be at a level adequate to achieve equality between the workers identified. . .
Overruled as to EU law – Heath v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 20-Jul-2004
The female civilian officer alleged sex discrimination against her by a police officer. Her complaint was heard at an internal disciplinary. She alleged sexual harrassment, and was further humiliated by the all male board’s treatment of her . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, European, Discrimination

Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.597670

Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 23 Jul 1999

The police had arrested three peaceful but vociferous preachers when some members of a crowd gathered round them threatened hostility.
Held: Freedom of speech means nothing unless it includes the freedom to be irritating, contentious, eccentric, heretical, unwelcome and provocative provided it did not tend to provoke violence. There was no reasonable inference available in this case to the police officer that the appellant, preaching about morality, was about to cause a breach of the peace.
Sedley LJ said: ‘A judgment as to the imminence of a breach of the peace does not conclude the constable’s task. The next and critical question for the constable, and in turn for the court, is where the threat is coming from, because it is there that preventive action must be directed. It is only if otherwise lawful conduct gives rise to a reasonable apprehension that it will, by interfering with the rights or liberties of others, provoke violence which, though unlawful, would not be entirely unreasonable that a constable is empowered to take steps to prevent it . . Mr Kealy for the prosecutor submitted that if there are two alternative sources of trouble, a constable can properly take steps against either. This is right, but only if both are threatening violence or behaving in a manner that might provoke violence’ and ‘The test to determine whether the police officer’s action was reasonable was an objective one, in the sense that it was for the courts to decide, not whether the view taken by that officer fell within the broad band of rational decisions but whether, in the light of what he knew and perceived at the time, the court was satisfied that it was reasonable to fear an imminent breach of the peace and that reasonableness had to be evaluated without the qualifications of hindsight.’
Sedley LJ said: ‘Freedom of speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative, provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having. What Speakers’ Corner (where the law applies as fully as anywhere else) demonstrates is the tolerance which is both extended by the law to opinion of every kind and expected by the law in the conduct of those who disagree, even strongly, with what they hear. From the condemnation of Socrates to the persecution of modern writers and journalists, our world has seen too many examples of state control of unofficial ideas. A central purpose of the European Convention on Human Rights has been to set close limits to any such assumed power. We in this country continue to owe a debt to the jury which in 1670 refused to convict the Quakers William Penn and William Mead for preaching ideas which offended against state orthodoxy.’

Judges:

Sedley LJ

Citations:

Times 28-Jul-1999, [2000] HRLR 249, [1999] EWHC Admin 733, (1999) 7 BHRC 375, [1999] Crim LR 998, (1999) 163 JP 789, CO/188/99

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996 89(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
Freedom of Expression is Fundamental to Society
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .
Cited – Beatty v Gilbanks CA 13-Jun-1882
A lawful Salvation Army march attracted disorderly opposition and was therefore the occasion of a breach of the peace.
Held: It could not be found a case of unlawful assembly against the leaders of the Salvation Army march. Accepting that a . .
Cited – Duncan v Jones KBD 1936
The appellant was about to make a public address in a situation in which the year before a disturbance had been incited by her speaking. A policeman believed reasonably that a breach of the peace would occur if the meeting was held, and ordered the . .
Cited – Wise v Dunning KBD 1902
A protestant preacher in Liverpool was held to be liable to be bound over to keep the peace upon proof that he habitually accompanied his public speeches with behaviour calculated to insult Roman Catholics. His actions had caused, and were liable to . .
Cited – Regina v Howell (Errol) CACD 1981
The court considered the meaning of the legal concept of a breach of the peace.
Held: The essence is to be found in violence or threatened violence. ‘We entertain no doubt that a constable has a power of arrest where there is reasonable . .
Cited – Regina v Nicol and Selvanayagam QBD 10-Nov-1995
The appellants appealed a bind-over for a finding that each appellant had been guilty of conduct whereby a breach of the peace was likely to be occasioned. The appellants, concerned about cruelty to animals, had obstructed an angling competition by . .
Cited – Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 13-Dec-1994
A woman protester repeatedly climbed over the perimeter fencing into a military base.
Held: The defendant had a choice between agreeing to be bound over and going to prison. Her refusal to agree to be bound over had an immediate and obvious . .
Cited – Regina v Morpeth Ward Justices, ex parte Ward 1992
A bind-over was upheld on people who had noisily and turbulently disrupted a pheasant shoot. . .

Cited by:

Distinguished – Norwood v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 3-Jul-2003
The appellant a BNP member had displayed a large poster in his bedroom window saying ‘Islam out of Britain’. He was convicted of an aggravated attempt to cause alarm or distress. The offence was established on proof of several matters, unless the . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the Application of) v Gloucestershire Constabulary and others CA 8-Dec-2004
The claimant had been in a bus taking her and others to an intended demonstration. The police feared breaches of the peace, and stopped the bus, and ordered the driver to return to London, and escorted it to ensure it did not stop.
Held: The . .
Cited – Wragg, Regina (on the Application Of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 15-Jun-2005
The court faced a case stated where the defendant had been accused of resisting arrest. The officers claimed to have anticipated a breach of the peace, having been called to a domestic dispute.
Held: Though the defendant had not behaved with . .
Cited – Singh and others v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police QBD 4-Nov-2005
A play was presented which was seen by many Sikhs as offensive. Protesters were eventually ordered to disperse under s30 of the 2003 Act. The defendants appealed their convictions for having breached that order, saying that it interfered with their . .
Cited – Bibby v Chief Constable of Essex Police CA 6-Apr-2000
A bailiff sought to execute against goods in a shop against the will of the occupier. The police attended and when tempers were raised the police officer anticipated a breach of the peace by the bailiff and arrested him. He sought damages for that . .
Cited – Singh, Regina (on the Application of) v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police CA 28-Jul-2006
Sikh protesters set out to picket a theatre production which they considered to offend their religion. The respondent used a existing ASBO dispersal order which had been obtained for other purposes, to control the demonstration.
Held: The . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Regina (Daly) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 23-May-2001
A prison policy requiring prisoners not to be present when their property was searched and their mail was examined was unlawful. The policy had been introduced after failures in search procedures where officers had been intimidated by the presence . .
Cited – Gaunt v OFCOM and Liberty QBD 13-Jul-2010
The claimant, a radio presenter sought judicial review of the respondent’s finding (against the broadcaster) that a radio interview he had conducted breached the Broadcasting Code. He had strongly criticised a proposal to ban smokers from being . .
Cited – Abdul and Others v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 16-Feb-2011
The defendants appealed against convictions for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour . . within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress. He had attended a . .
Cited – Moos and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of the Police of The Metropolis Admn 14-Apr-2011
The claimants, demonstrators at the G20 summit, complained of the police policy of kettling, the containment of a crowd over a period of time, not because they were expected to to behave unlawfully, but to ensure a separation from those who were. . .
Cited – McClure and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis CA 19-Jan-2012
The Commissioner appealed against a decision that certain aspects of its crowd control procedures exercised during a public protest were unlawful.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The issue came down to whether the commanding officer genuinely held . .
Cited – Dehal v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 27-Sep-2005
The appellant had been convicted under section 4 of the 1986 Act. He had been accused of attending at Luton Guruwarda and intending to cause distress. He said that he had gone only peacefully to express his true religious beliefs. He had left a . .
Cited – Jewish Rights Watch (T/A Jewish Human Rights Watch), Regina (on The Application of) v Leicester City Council Admn 28-Jun-2016
The claimant challenged the legaity of resolutions passed by three local authorities which were critical of the State of Israel. They said that the resolultions infringed the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the 2010 Act, and also . .
Cited – Roberts and Others v Regina CACD 6-Dec-2018
Sentencing of Political Protesters
The defendants appealed against sentences for causing a public nuisance. They had been protesting against fracking by climbing aboard a lorry and blocking a main road for several days.
Held: The appeals from immediate custodial sentences were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Crime, Police

Leading Case

Updated: 15 September 2022; Ref: scu.139996

Regina v Forbes (Anthony Leroy) (Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 1999): HL 19 Dec 2000

The provisions of the Code of Practice regarding identification parades are mandatory and additional unwritten conditions are not to be inserted. Where there was an identification and the suspect challenged that identification, and consented to the parade, the parade must be held. There is nothing in the words of code of practice to allow police officers not to hold an identification parades where the identification was considered to be already completed. There is nothing in the code to justify a distinction as to quality of identification evidence between that of a police officer and of a member of the public. In the past, identification which had received complete and unequivocal acceptance had proved to be the source of miscarriages of justice. Once a breach of the Codes was found, the trial judge must deal with this in his summing up in words which were appropriate to the situation. Nevertheless, in this case there had been a prior unequivocal identification. Lord Bingham of Cornhill: ‘If an eye-witness of a criminal incident makes plain to the police that he cannot identify the culprit, it will very probably be futile to invite that witness to attend an identification parade. If an eye-witness may be able to identify clothing worn by a culprit but not the culprit himself, it will probably be futile to mount an identification parade rather than simply inviting the witness to identify the clothing. If a case is one of pure recognition of someone well-known to the eye-witness, it may again be futile to hold an identification parade. But save in cases such as these, or other exceptional circumstances, the effect of paragraph 2.3 is clear: if (a) the police have sufficient information to justify the arrest of a particular person for suspected involvement in an offence, and (b) an eye-witness has identified or may be able to identify that person, and (c) the suspect disputes his identification as a person involved in the commission of that offence, an identification parade must be held if (d) the suspect consents and (e) paragraphs 2.4, 2.7 and 2.10 of Code D do not apply.’

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill

Citations:

Times 19-Dec-2000, Gazette 22-Feb-2001, [2000] UKHL 66, [2000] 1 CAR 430 (HL), [2001] 1 AC 473, [2001] 1 Crim App R 430, [2001] 2 WLR 1, [2001] 1 All ER 686

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v B (Attorney-General’s Reference No 3 of 1999); Regina v Weir CACD 26-May-2000
Where a defendant gave a sample of DNA during an investigation, but the sample was not destroyed on his acquittal, evidence obtained from a cross match relating to a different crime was not admissible. The statute requires the samples to be . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Charles CACD 19-Jul-2001
The defendants appealed convictions for robbery, disputing the admission of police and identification evidence. There had been several failures to comply with the codes of practice, including the failure to hold an identity parade when so requested, . .
Cited – S, Regina (on Application of) v South Yorkshire Police; Regina v Chief Constable of Yorkshire Police ex parte Marper HL 22-Jul-2004
Police Retention of Suspects DNA and Fingerprints
The claimants complained that their fingerprints and DNA records taken on arrest had been retained after discharge before trial, saying the retention of the samples infringed their right to private life.
Held: The parts of DNA used for testing . .
Applied – McKenna v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 8-Apr-2005
The defendant appealed a conviction for driving whilst disqualified. He said that an officer’s identification of him should have been excluded from evidence because no identification parade had been held.
Held: A parade should have been held: . .
Cited – Regina v Davis (Iain); Regina v Ellis, Regina v Gregory, Regina v Simms, Regina v Martin CACD 19-May-2006
The several defendants complained at the use at their trials of evidence given anonymously. The perceived need for anonymity arose because, from intimidation, the witnesses would not be willing to give their evidence without it.
Held: The . .
Cited – Dowsett v Criminal Cases Review Commission Admn 8-Jun-2007
The claimant had been convicted in 1993 of involvement in a murder. He had complained that the police had failed to disclose material which would have been of assistance to him. He had requested the Commission to take examine and pursue his appeal. . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 1999: Application By the British Broadcasting Corporation To Set Aside or Vary a Reporting Restriction Order HL 17-Jun-2009
An application was made to discharge an anonymity order made in previous criminal proceedings before the House. The defendant was to be retried for rape under the 2003 Act, after an earlier acquittal. The applicant questioned whether such a order . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Criminal Evidence

Updated: 13 September 2022; Ref: scu.88458

MS Regina (on The Application of) v The Independent Monitor of The Home Office and Another: Admn 18 Apr 2016

The applicant challenged the disclosure of old allegations of criminal behaviour on his application for an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Certificate in support of his application for a hackney carriage license.

Judges:

Blair QC HHJ

Citations:

[2016] EWHC 655 (Admin), [2016] 4 WLR 88, [2016] WLR(D) 233

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Statutes:

Police Act 1997 113B(4)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing, Police

Updated: 12 September 2022; Ref: scu.562906

Panesar (T/A Anami Law), Regina (on The Application of) v Crown Prosecution Service and Another: Admn 5 Apr 2011

Defendants challenged the terms of search warrants and the conditions attached to their bail. There was alleged to be a substantial VAT fraud.

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 842 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 8(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Legal Professions, Police

Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.431755

Durrant v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary: CA 14 Nov 2017

Judges:

Sales, Moylan LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 1808, [2018] ICR D1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Durrant v Avon and Somerset Constabulary (Practice Note) CA 17-Dec-2013
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Police

Updated: 31 August 2022; Ref: scu.599371

D v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 1 Dec 2010

The defendant appealed against his conviction for assaulting a Community Service Officer in the execution of her duties causing her injury. He said she had not been acting in the course of her duties.

Judges:

Ouseley J

Citations:

[2010] EWHC 3400 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Reform Act 2002 46(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Crime

Updated: 31 August 2022; Ref: scu.427945

Windsor v United Kingdom: ECHR 14 Dec 1988

The claimant complained that whilst arrested, he had been denied access to a lawyer.

Citations:

13081/87, [1988] ECHR 29

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – Cadder v Her Majesty’s Advocate SC 26-Oct-2010
Statement without lawyer access was inadmissible
The accused complained that he had been convicted for assault and breach of the peace on the basis of a statement made by him during an interview with the police where, under the 1995 Act, he had been denied access to a lawyer.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police

Updated: 31 August 2022; Ref: scu.427793

Beckett, Regina (on The Application of) v Aylesbury Crown Court: Admn 22 Jan 2004

The applicant had unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction for driving with excess alcohol. He had been stopped randomly to check his documents and the road worthiness of the older car.
Held: The appeal failed. May LJ said: ‘Whether it be under section 163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, or under a duty at common law, a police officer has the power, provided he or she does not act capriciously or in bad faith, or provided there is no malpractice or oppression or opprobrious behaviour, to stop a motorist on the road. If thereafter there is a reasonable suspicion of drinking, a breath test may be administered.’

Judges:

May LJ

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 100 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Road Traffic Act 1988 5(1)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Beard v Wood 1980
The court discussed the power of a constable to stop a driver.
Held: Provided the officer was acting in good faith the statutory powers given to him he need have no grounds for stopping a driver. Nothing in the section required the prosecutor . .
Cited – Chief Constable of Gwent v Dash 1986
In the absence of malpractice, oppression, caprice or opprobrious behaviour, there is no restriction on the stopping of motorists by a police officer in the execution of his duty and subsequent requirement of a breath test if the officer then and . .
Cited – Steel v Goacher QBD 1985
Griffiths LJ discussed the lawfulness of a police officer’s stopping of a motorist, and said: ‘It should, however, be stated that the police officer was acting within the execution of his duty by virtue of his power at common law and not by virtue . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Police

Updated: 25 August 2022; Ref: scu.425318

Blench v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 5 Nov 2004

The defendant appealed against his conviction for assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duty under section 89. He had argued that he had no case to answer. The officers had received an emergency call to the house, but the female caller had told them then not to come. On arrival, the defendant had told them to get off his property. Fearing violence to a child, the police used CS gas to obtain entry under the 1984 Act and arrested him for breach of the peace.
Held: The appeal failed. The police had information that a child was at risk. They had the power under the 1984 Act to enter to investigate that matter, and their actions were lawful. Since their actions were under the 1984 Act, the questions detailed in Bibby, which dealt with the use of common law powers, did not arise.

Judges:

Thomas LJ, Fulford J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2717 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996 89, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
17(1)(e)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Bibby v Chief Constable of Essex Police CA 6-Apr-2000
A bailiff sought to execute against goods in a shop against the will of the occupier. The police attended and when tempers were raised the police officer anticipated a breach of the peace by the bailiff and arrested him. He sought damages for that . .
Cited – Albert v Lavin HL 3-Dec-1981
An off duty and out of uniform police officer attempted to restrain the defendant jumping ahead of a bus queue. The defendant struggled, and continued to do so even after being told that of the officer’s status. He said he had not believed that he . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the Application of) v Gloucestershire Constabulary and others Admn 19-Feb-2004
The court considered a claim for judicial review of a police officer’s decision to turn back a number of coaches. Each coach contained passengers en route to join a demonstration at an RAF base in Gloucestershire, the officer honestly and reasonably . .
Cited – Snook v Mannion QBD 1982
The police officer refused to leave premises after being told to ‘Fuck off’.
Held: Whether such words amounted to a withdrawal of the officer’s licence to be on the land was a question of fact in the circumstances. . .
Cited – Davis v Lisle CA 1936
Two police officers, one in plain clothes and the other in uniform, passed by a lorry causing an obstruction in the highway outside a garage. Two men were repairing it. Some minutes later they returned and saw that the lorry had been moved into the . .
Cited – Riley v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 1990
A police officer is not acting in the execution of his duty by arresting or detaining someone unless that arrest or detention is lawful. Justices are not entitled to infer that a police officer was acting in the course of his duty in carrying out a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Police

Updated: 25 August 2022; Ref: scu.425319

Coghlan and Others v Manchester Police and Another: Admn 2 Dec 2004

The Secretary of State for the Home Department had issued guidance in Circular 55/2003 indicating that the power to suspend a police officer could be used to prevent a resignation and thus ensure the completion of disciplinary proceedings.
Held: Though it was non-statutory guidance because it fell outside the terms of section 87, of the 1996 Act, it had to be taken into account by the decision maker.

Judges:

Wilkie J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2801 (Admin), [2005] 2 All ER 890, [2005] ACD 34

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996 87

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 15 August 2022; Ref: scu.403328

Charles v Crown Prosecution Service: Admn 26 Nov 2009

The police were admitted to have failed to comply with Code of Practice A. The defendant appealed against the conviction on his admission.
Held: A failure to adhere to a requirement in PACE is not mere ‘rigmarole’: ‘These provisions are not a mere rigmarole to be recited like a mantra and then ignored. The provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and the Code relating to caution, are designed to protect a detainee. They are important protections. They impose significant disciplines upon the police as to how they are to behave. If they can secure a serious conviction in breach of those provisions that is an important matter which undermines the protection of a detainee in the police station’

Judges:

Moses LJ, Hickinbottom J

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 3521 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Beeres v Crown Prosecution Service (West Midlands) Admn 13-Feb-2014
The defendant said that his confession should not have been admitted in evidence it having been given when he had not been advised of his rights whilst at the police station because of his inebriation.
Held: The appeal failed. A confession is, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Police

Updated: 13 August 2022; Ref: scu.396502

Munster v Lamb: CA 1883

Judges and witness, including police officers are given immunity from suit in defamation in court proceedings.
Fry LJ said: ‘Why should a witness be able to avail himself of his position in the box and to make without fear of civil consequences a false statement, which in many cases is perjured, and which is malicious and affects the character of another? The rule of law exists, not because the conduct of those persons ought not of itself to be actionable, but because if their conduct was actionable, actions would be brought against judges and witnesses in cases in which they had not spoken with malice, in which they had not spoken with falsehood. It is not a desire to prevent actions from being brought in cases where they ought to be maintained that has led to the adoption of the present rule of law; but it is the fear that if the rule were otherwise, numerous actions would be brought against persons who were merely discharging their duty. It must always be borne in mind that it is not intended to protect malicious and untruthful persons, but that it is intended to protect persons acting bona fide, who under a different rule would be liable, not perhaps to verdicts and judgments against them, but to the vexation of defending actions.’
Privilege applies even though what is said is gratuitous and irrelevant to what proves to be an issue in the issue in the trial.
Lord Brett MR said: ‘The rule of law is that what is said in the course of the administration of the law, is privileged; and the reason of that rule covers a counsel even more than a judge or a witness. To my mind it is illogical to argue that the protection of privilege ought not to exist for a counsel, who deliberately and maliciously slanders another person. The reason of the rule is, that a counsel, who is not malicious and who is acting bona fide, may not be in danger of having actions brought against him. If the rule of law were otherwise, the most innocent of counsel might be unrighteously harassed with suits, and therefore it is better to make the rule of law so large that an innocent counsel shall never be troubled, although by making it so large counsel are included who have been guilty of malice and misconduct.’
Brett MR continued, saying: ‘It was at one time suggested that although witnesses could not be held liable to actions upon the case for defamation, that is, for actions for libel and slander, nevertheless they might be held liable in another and different form of action on the case, namely, an action analogous to an action for malicious prosecution, in which it would be alleged that the statement complained of was false to the knowledge of the witness, and was made maliciously and without reasonable or probable cause. This view has been supported by high authority; but it seems to me wholly untenable. If an action for libel or slander cannot be maintained, how can such an action as I have mentioned be maintained, it being in truth an action for defamation in an altered form? Every objection and every reason, which can be urged against an action for libel or slander, will equally apply against the suggested form of action. Therefore, to my mind, the best way to deal with the suggested form of action is to dispose of it in the words of Crompton J in Henderson v Broomhead, where he said: ‘The attempts to obtain redress for defamation having failed, an effort was made in Revis v Smith to sustain an action analogous to an action for malicious prosecution. That seems to have been done in despair.’ Nothing could be more strong, nothing could shew more clearly his entire disbelief in the possibility of supporting that new form of action.’

Judges:

Fry LJ, Sir Balliol Brett MR

Citations:

(1883) 11 QBD 588

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Darker v Chief Constable of The West Midlands Police HL 1-Aug-2000
The plaintiffs had been indicted on counts alleging conspiracy to import drugs and conspiracy to forge traveller’s cheques. During the criminal trial it emerged that there had been such inadequate disclosure by the police that the proceedings were . .
Cited – Silcott v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis CA 24-May-1996
The claimant had been convicted of the murder of PC Blakelock. The only substantial evidence was in the form of the notes of interview he said were fabricated by senior officers. His eventual appeal on this basis was not resisted. He now appealed . .
Cited – Heath v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 20-Jul-2004
The female civilian officer alleged sex discrimination against her by a police officer. Her complaint was heard at an internal disciplinary. She alleged sexual harrassment, and was further humiliated by the all male board’s treatment of her . .
Cited – Taylor and Others v Director of The Serious Fraud Office and Others HL 29-Oct-1998
The defendant had requested the Isle of Man authorities to investigate the part if any taken by the plaintiff in a major fraud. No charges were brought against the plaintiff, but the documents showing suspicion came to be disclosed in the later . .
Cited – General Medical Council v Professor Sir Roy Meadow, Attorney General CA 26-Oct-2006
The GMC appealed against the dismissal of its proceedings for professional misconduct against the respondent doctor, whose expert evidence to a criminal court was the subject of complaint. The doctor said that the evidence given by him was . .
Cited – Westcott v Westcott QBD 30-Oct-2007
The claimant said that his daughter in law had defamed him. She answered that the publication was protected by absolute privilege. She had complained to the police that he had hit her and her infant son.
Held: ‘the process of taking a witness . .
Cited – Westcott v Westcott CA 15-Jul-2008
The defendant was the claimant’s daughter in law. In the course of a bitter divorce she made allegations to the police which were investigated but did not lead to a prosecution. The claimant appealed dismissal of his claim for defamation on the . .
Cited – Iqbal v Mansoor and Others QBD 26-Aug-2011
The claimant sought the disapplication of the limitation period in order to pursue the defendant solicitors, his former employers, in defamation. . .
Cited – Cabassi v Vila 12-Dec-1940
High Court of Australia – The claim sought to sidestep the rule giving immuity to witnesses before a court by alleging a conspiracy to give false evidence.
Held: Starke J said: ‘But it does not matter whether the action is framed as an action . .
Cited – Singh v Moorlands Primary School and Another CA 25-Jul-2013
The claimant was a non-white head teacher, alleging that her school governors and local authority had undermined and had ‘deliberately endorsed a targeted campaign of discrimination, bullying, harassment and victimisation’ against her as an Asian . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Defamation

Leading Case

Updated: 31 July 2022; Ref: scu.184730

Ferriday v Chief Constable of Gwent: Admn 15 May 2009

The claimant seeks judicial review of a decision from the then Chief Constable of the Gwent Police dated 20 June 2008 to dispense with his services as a probationer police constable under Regulation 13 of the Police Regulations 2003

Judges:

Jarman QC HHJ

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 2083 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Regulations 2003 134e

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.372660

Verity, Regina (On the Application of) v Chief Constable Of North Yorkshire Police: Admn 24 Jul 2009

The claimant had joined the police force as a probationary constable. He was dismissed because the chief constable considered that restrictions which they would have to place on his deployments because of events before he was taken on, made his deployment untenable. He had been found not guilty of sexual offences against young girls, but professionals of partner agencies had urged caution.
Held: The chief constable had been entitled to reach the conclusion he had using regulation 13.

Judges:

Silber J

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 1879 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Regulations 2003 13

Police

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.361466

Kay, Regina (On the Application of) v Chief Constable Of Northumbria Police: Admn 23 Jul 2009

Judges:

Silber J

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 1835 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/527) 13

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See Also – Kay, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police Admn 18-Jan-2010
Having succeeded in her claim as to the lawfulness of the decision of the defendant to end her appointment as a probationary constable, the claimant now sought an order mandating her continued employment by the defendant. She had been acquitted of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.361462

Murray, Regina (on the Application of) v Birmingham Magistrates Court: Admn 1 Apr 2009

The claimant sought judicial review of a decision by the respondents that a statement he had sworn in connection with a criminal prosecution should be admissible in forfeiture proceedings now brought by the police following his conviction.

Judges:

Sir Anthony May, Dobbs J

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 1546 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Magistrates, Police

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.347436

Karia, Regina (on The Application of) v The Chief Constable of Hampshire Contabulary: Admn 15 Dec 2015

The Claimant seeks judicial review of the dismissal of his complaint against a police officer in the Hampshire Constabulary for his failure to comply with paragraph 11.13 of Code C of the Codes of Practice, issued pursuant to section 66 of the 1984 Act, in not recording his comments after being cautioned for a suspected driving offence.
Held: The request succeeded.

Judges:

Lang J

Citations:

[2015] EWHC 4083 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 66

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.564427

Belhadj and Others v The Security Service, SIS, GCHQ, Home Office and FCO: IPT 7 Feb 2014

The Tribunal considered the Complainants’ application for interim relief in their case before it in the light of undertakings given by the Respondents. It also gave preliminary consideration to appropriate practice to be followed in the event a Closed hearing was requested by the Respondents.

Judges:

Burton J P, Seabrook QC, Flint QC

Citations:

[2014] UKIPTrib 13 – 132-9H

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 68(4)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See Also – Belhadj and Others v Security Service and Others (Including Determination) IPT 29-Apr-2015
The court considered the methods used for collection of information by the security services, and gave the following guidance: ‘(i) Whether in fact there has been, prior to 18 November 2014, soliciting, receiving, storing and transmitting by UK . .
Cited – Liberty (The National Council of Civil Liberties) and Others v The Government Communications Headquarters and Others IPT 22-Jun-2015
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.525979

Scopelight Ltd and Others v Chief Of Police for Northumbria and Others: QBD 7 May 2009

Citations:

[2009] EWHC 958 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 22

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Scopelight Ltd and Others v Chief of Police for Northumbria CA 5-Nov-2009
The claimant sought return of items removed by the defendants under the 1984 Act. A decision had been made against a prosecution by the police. The police wished to hold onto the items to allow a decision from the second defendant.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Criminal Practice

Updated: 26 July 2022; Ref: scu.346751

Regina on the Application of PW v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, The London Borough of Richmond-Upon-Thames: Admn 20 Jul 2005

W, a child of 14 sought judicial review of an order to remove persons under the age of 16 from dispersal areas in Richmond.
Held: The issue was whether the power given to police to remove youths was permissive or coercive. The power given ‘is exercisable whenever a person who is believed on reasonable grounds to be under 16 years of age is found between the hours of 9pm and 6am in a dispersal area and the criteria set out in s 30(6)(b) are fulfilled. There is no need for the constable (or CSO) to be satisfied that the child would otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm. ‘ The power given to the police is a power to take them home. ‘Section 30(6) merely confers on the police a very welcome express power to use police resources to take such a person home if he is willing to be taken home. ‘ That power does not include a power to remove a child without his consent. A power to do what would otherwise be tortious behaviour would require clear words, which had not been used.

Judges:

Brooke LJ, Mitting J

Citations:

Times 21-Jul-2005, [2005] 1 WLR 3706, [2005] EWHC 1586 (Admin), [2005] 3 All ER 749

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 30 31, Children Act 1989 46

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Morris v Beardmore HL 1981
Parliament does not intend to authorise tortious conduct except by express provision. It is not for the courts to alter the balance between individual rights and the powers of public officials. The right of privacy is fundamental.
Lord Scarman . .
Cited – Regina v Special Commissioner And Another, ex parte Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd HL 16-May-2002
The inspector issued a notice requiring production of certain documents. The respondents refused to produce them, saying that they were protected by legal professional privilege.
Held: Legal professional privilege is a fundamental part of . .
Cited – B (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-Feb-2000
Prosecution to prove absence of genuine belief
To convict a defendant under the 1960 Act, the prosecution had the burden of proving the absence of a genuine belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 14 or over. The Act itself said nothing about any mental element, so the assumption must . .
See Also – W, Regina (on the Application Of) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others Admn 20-Jul-2005
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Singh and others v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police QBD 4-Nov-2005
A play was presented which was seen by many Sikhs as offensive. Protesters were eventually ordered to disperse under s30 of the 2003 Act. The defendants appealed their convictions for having breached that order, saying that it interfered with their . .
Appeal from – Regina (W) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and Another CA 11-May-2006
The Commissioner appealed against a declaration that an authorisation given for creation of a dispersal area was unlawful.
Held: The proceedings appeared at first to be merely hypothetical, but the issue as to whether a police officer had use . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.228925

Kay v Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis: HL 26 Nov 2008

The claimant had been involved in a monthly cycle ride through central London which had continued for many years. The ride took place without any central organisation and without any route being pre-planned. They objected to being required to apply for a licence and to file a route with the Commissioner under section 11. The question was whether each ride was the same procession, and whether it was ‘commonly or customarily’ held.
Held: Mr Kay’s appeal succeeded. A regular procession need not follow the same route each time. The fact that no person or persons organised the procession meant that no person held any duty under the Act, and section 11 had no application.
Lord Rodger said: ‘if Parliament had actually intended to use the Public Order Act 1986 to outlaw processions of that kind without a predetermined route, then it would not have done so by a side wind in a section creating a system of notification: it would have done so specifically. Section 13 contains a carefully crafted measure which allows councils, with the consent of the Secretary of State, to prohibit public processions in certain specified circumstances. Where the Act contains a specific provision prohibiting certain processions, there is no room for implying into another provision a requirement which would have the effect of prohibiting a different type of procession by exposing the organisers to a criminal conviction and fine.’
Lord Phillips said: ‘Critical Mass is not an organisation but the name given to a recurrent event. It takes place in central London on the evening of the last Friday of every month, as it has done since April 1994. Similar events take place on the last Friday of every month in many other cities throughout the world. Critical Mass starts at the same location, (the South Bank near the National Theatre) at the same time (6 pm). It is featured in Time Out magazine. It is in the nature of Critical Mass that there is no fixed, settled or predetermined route, end-time or destination; where Critical Mass goes, where and what time it ends are all things which are chosen by the actions of the participants on the day.’

Judges:

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood

Citations:

[2008] UKHL 69, [2008] 1 WLR 2723, [2009] RTR 16, [2009] HRLR 10, [2009] 2 All ER 935

Links:

Bailii, HL, Times

Statutes:

Public Order Act 1986 11

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

At First Instance – Kay v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Admn 27-Jun-2006
For many years and in many large cities, once a month, cyclists had gathered en masse to cycle through the city in a ‘Critical Mass’ demonstration. There was no central organisation. Clarification was sought as to whether the consent of the police . .
Appeal from – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Kay CA 21-May-2007
The commissioner appealed against a judgment that a mass cycle ride held regularly but over different routes did not first require notice to be given.
Held: The commissioner’s appeal succeeded. The fact that the route changed meant that the . .
Cited – Flockhart v Robinson 1950
A challenge was made to the organising of a procession. Its route was determined by Mr Flockhart as he went along.
Held: For the purposes of section 3(4) of the 1936 Act, a procession ‘is a body of persons moving along a route’ and that, by . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Health ex parte Quintavalle (on behalf of Pro-Life Alliance) HL 13-Mar-2003
Court to seek and Apply Parliamentary Intention
The appellant challenged the practice of permitting cell nuclear replacement (CNR), saying it was either outside the scope of the Act, or was for a purpose which could not be licensed under the Act.
Held: The challenge failed. The court was to . .

Cited by:

Cited – Rolls-Royce plc v Unite the Union CA 14-May-2009
The parties disputed whether the inclusion of length of service within a selection matrix for redundancy purposes would amount to unlawful age discrimination. The court was asked whether it was correct to make a declaratory judgment when the case . .
Cited – Powlesland v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 9-Dec-2013
The defendant apealed against his conviction for having taken part in a public procession, a a Critical Mass Cycle Ride, knowingly in breach of conditions attached to it by the Police. The defendant had argued that the ride was not a procession.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Road Traffic

Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.278297

Mason v Orr: SCS 28 Nov 1901

Action directed against the Superintendent of the Central Division of the Glasgow Police for an alleged assault, and the question is whether a relevant case has been stated.

Judges:

Lord M’Laren

Citations:

[1901] ScotCS CSIH – 1, (1901) 4 F 220, (1901) 9 SLT 269, [1901] SLR 39 – 148

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.279256

Regina v Marylebone Magistrates Court and Another ex parte Amdrell Ltd T/S ‘Get Stuffed’ and Others: QBD 17 Sep 1998

How the police execute a warrant must be an operational matter for them, but the involvement of media in press briefings and in attending the execution of warrants must be deplored as reducing the chances of a fair trial.

Citations:

Times 17-Sep-1998

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Media

Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.87290

Hicks and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis: SC 15 Feb 2017

The claimants had wanted to make a peaceful anti-monarchist demonstration during the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They complained that the actions of the respondent police infringed their human rights by preventing that demonstration.
Held: The appeal failed.
The fundamental principle underlying article 5 is the need to protect the individual from arbitrary detention, and an essential part of that protection is timely judicial control, but at the same time article 5 must not be interpreted in such a way as would make it impracticable for the police to perform their duty to maintain public order and protect the lives and property of others. These twin requirements are not contradictory but complementary

Judges:

Lord Mance, Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath, Lord Toulson, Lord Dyson

Citations:

[2017] UKSC 9, [2017] WLR(D) 101, [2017] 2 WLR 824, [2017] 1 AC 25

Links:

Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Albert v Lavin HL 3-Dec-1981
An off duty and out of uniform police officer attempted to restrain the defendant jumping ahead of a bus queue. The defendant struggled, and continued to do so even after being told that of the officer’s status. He said he had not believed that he . .
Appeal from – Hicks and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis CA 22-Jan-2014
The claimants said that the restrictive tactics used by the respondent when policing crowds at a royal wedding.
Held: The appeals failed. The police had reasonable grounds for suspecting that the claimants were likely to cause a breach of the . .
Cited – Steel and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Sep-1998
The several applicants had been arrested in different circumstances and each charged with breach of the peace contrary to common law. Under the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980, the court can bind over a Defendant to keep the peace, if the Defendant . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
At First Instance – Hicks and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis Admn 18-Jul-2012
The claimants challnged the lawfulness of decisions made by the respondent as to the policing of events surrounding the Royal Wedding in April 2011. . .
Not followed – Ostendorf v Germany ECHR 7-Mar-2013
The applicant was registered on a German database as a person prepared to use violence in the context of sports events. He travelled with a group of others from Bremen to Frankfurt in order to attend a football match. They were kept under police . .
Cited – Lawless v Ireland (No 3) ECHR 1-Jul-1961
The Irish Government derogated from article 5 in July 1957 in order to permit detention without charge or trial, and the applicant was detained between July and December 1957. He could have obtained his release by undertaking to observe the law and . .
Cited – Guardian News and Media Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court CA 3-Apr-2012
The newspaper applied for leave to access documents referred to but not released during the course of extradition proceedings in open court.
Held: The application was to be allowed. Though extradition proceedings were not governed by the Civil . .
Cited – Brogan and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 29-Nov-1988
ECHR Judgment (Merits) – Violation of Art. 5-3; Violation of Art. 5-5; No violation of Art. 5-1; No violation of Art. 5-4; Not necessary to examine Art. 13; Just satisfaction reserved.
The four applicants . .
Incomplete – Jecius v Lithuania ECHR 31-Jul-2000
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection rejected (six month period); Violation of Art. 5-1 as regards the applicant
The applicant complained of violation of his article 5 rights . .
Cited – Nicol and Selvanayagam v United Kingdom ECHR 11-Jan-2001
(Admissibility) The applicants took part in an anti-fishing protest at an angling match on 28 May 1994. Their aim was to sabotage the match by throwing twigs in the water close to the anglers’ hooks so as to disturb the surface, while other . .
Cited – Schwabe and MG v Germany ECHR 1-Dec-2011
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.575310

Hicks and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis: Admn 18 Jul 2012

The claimants challnged the lawfulness of decisions made by the respondent as to the policing of events surrounding the Royal Wedding in April 2011.

Judges:

Richards LJ, Openshaw J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 1947 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Hicks and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis CA 22-Jan-2014
The claimants said that the restrictive tactics used by the respondent when policing crowds at a royal wedding.
Held: The appeals failed. The police had reasonable grounds for suspecting that the claimants were likely to cause a breach of the . .
At First Instance – Hicks and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis SC 15-Feb-2017
The claimants had wanted to make a peaceful anti-monarchist demonstration during the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They complained that the actions of the respondent police infringed their human rights by preventing that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.462952

Yarl’s Wood Immigration Ltd and others v Bedfordshire Police Authority: ComC 30 Sep 2008

The owners of the Yarslwood Immigration centre sought damages under the 1886 Act after a riot at the centre caused substantial damage.
Held: The claim failed: ‘The fact that YWIL and GSL [the appellants] were acting as public authorities exercising coercive powers of the state in carrying out its public function in respect of the Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre does not per se put them outside the scope of the 1886 Act. However, the fact that they are entities with public law powers and duties for order within the detention centre means that, in respect of loss suffered from riot damage caused by detainees within the centre, they are not qualifying persons within the 1886 Act. The 1886 Act and its predecessors imposed a statutory duty to compensate on those responsible for law and order in a given area. The intention behind the legislation was that local property owners should be entitled to obtain compensation from the body with responsibility for protecting them from the risk of riot. It was not to enable a public authority with a particular responsibility for order within a defined area to seek compensation from another public authority with a broadly equivalent, but not identical, responsibility for order in that area.’
Rix LJ described the rationalisation of the liability of the hundred and now the police authority in these terms: ‘It seems to me that what Lord Mansfield had to say about that question, so much closer to the origin of the first Riot Act 1714, still retains pertinence, expressing as it does the common sense of the matter. It is for the sake of the party whose property has been damaged, it is to encourage the inhabitants (now the police force) of the locality, but including the party injured himself, all to assist in the preservation of the peace, it is to share the burden both of keeping the peace and of the misfortune of loss or injury. Moreover, as is so often the case with strict liability, it is because those who are liable to compensate are also regarded by the law as standing in the shoes of the wrongdoers themselves (as, for instance, in the case of the vicariously liable), in part because their obligation, their strict obligation, is to prevent what has happened happening.’

Judges:

Beatson J

Citations:

[2008] EWHC 2207 (Comm), [2009] 1 All ER 886, (2008) 158 NLJ 1415

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Riot (Damages) Act 1886

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Bedfordshire Police Authority v Constable and others ComC 20-Jun-2008
The authority insured its primary liability for compensation under the 1886 Act through the claimants and the excess of liability through re-insurers. The parties sought clarification from the court of the respective liabilities of the insurance . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Yarl’s Wood Immigration Ltd and Others v Bedfordshire Police Authority CA 23-Oct-2009
The claimant sought to recover the costs of damage to their centre following a riot, saying that under the 1886 Act, they were liable. It appealed against a ruling that they were unable to claim as a public authority, saying that the 1886 Act was . .
See Also – Bedfordshire Police Authority v Constable CA 12-Feb-2009
The police had responded to a riot at Yarlswood detention centre. They had insurance to cover their liability under the 1886 Act, but the re-insurers said that the insurance did not cover the event, saying that the liability was for statutory . .
Cited – The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime v Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co (Europe) Ltd and Others SC 20-Apr-2016
The Court considered the quantification of damages to be awarded to a business suffering under riots under the 1886 Act, and in particular whether such recoverable losses included compensation for consequential losses, including loss of profits and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Damages

Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.276537

Malone v Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis (No 2): ChD 28 Feb 1979

The court considered the lawfulness of telephone tapping. The issue arose following a trial in which the prosecution had admitted the interception of the plaintiff’s telephone conversations under a warrant issued by the Secretary of State. The plaintiff claimed that the interception had been and was unlawful.
Held: Although he dismissed the plaintiff’s claim, the Vice Chancellor said ‘Any regulation of so complex a matter as telephone tapping is essentially a matter for Parliament, not the courts . . this case seems to me to make it plain that telephone tapping is a subject which cries out for legislation.’
‘I am not unduly troubled by the absence of English authority: there has to be a first time for everything, and if the principles of English law, and not least analogies from the existing rules, together with the requirements of justice and common sense, pointed firmly to such a right existing, then I think the court should not be deterred from recognising the right. On the other hand, it is no function of the courts to legislate in a new field. The extension of the existing laws and principles is one thing, the creation of an altogether new right is another.’
‘I readily accept that if the question before me were one of construing a statute enacted with the purpose of giving effect to obligations imposed by the Convention, the court would readily seek to construe the legislation in a way that would effectuate the Convention rather than frustrate it. However, no relevant legislation of that sort is in existence. It seems to me that where Parliament has abstained from legislating on a point that is plainly suitable for legislation, it is indeed difficult for the court to lay down new rules of common law or equity that will carry out the Crown’s treaty obligations, or to discover for the first time that such rules have always existed.’

Judges:

Sir Robert Megarry VC

Citations:

[1979] CLY 2098, [1979] 1 Ch 344, [1980] QB 49, [1979] 2 All ER 620, [1979] EWHC 2 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Bonalumi v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 1985
In the course of extradition proceedings, an order was obtained under the 1879 Act. The defendant sought to appeal against the order, and applied to the Court of Appeal.
Held: The procedure under the 1879 Act was in the course of criminal . .
Cited – W, Regina v (Attorney General’s reference no 5 of 2002) CACD 12-Jun-2003
Three serving police officers provided confidential information to a known criminal. The Chief Constable authorised interception of telephones at a police station, a private network. The court accepted that section 17 prevented the defence asserting . .
Appeal from – Malone v The United Kingdom ECHR 2-Aug-1984
COURT (PLENARY) The complainant asserted that his telephone conversation had been tapped on the authority of a warrant signed by the Secretary of State, but that there was no system to supervise such warrants, and that it was not therefore in . .
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 . .
Cited – Costello v Chief Constable of Derbyshire Constabulary CA 22-Mar-2001
The police seized a car from Mr Costello, believing that it was stolen. The seizure was lawful at the time, by virtue of section 19 of PACE. The police never brought any criminal proceedings against Mr Costello, but they refused to return the car to . .
Cited – Tillery Valley Foods v Channel Four Television, Shine Limited ChD 18-May-2004
The claimant sought an injunction to restrain the defendants broadcasting a film, claiming that it contained confidential material. A journalist working undercover sought to reveal what he said were unhealthy practices in the claimant’s meat . .
Cited – Regina v P and others HL 19-Dec-2000
Where communications had been intercepted in a foreign country, and the manner of such interceptions had been lawful in that country, the evidence produced was admissible in evidence in a trial in England. An admission of such evidence was not an . .
See Also – Malone v The United Kingdom ECHR 26-Apr-1985
Hudoc Judgment (Just satisfaction) Struck out of the list (friendly settlement) . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police, Criminal Evidence

Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.183549

Reynolds, Regina (on the Application of) v Sussex Police and Another: Admn 16 May 2008

The complainant’s brother had been arrested for being drunk. After a time in a cell, he was found unwell and fell into a coma. Complaints were made of his treatment. The Police Complaints Commission was to investigate the events after the arrest independently, but the Sussex police wanted to investigate the matters before the arrest. The claimant wanted the entire investigation to be by the Commission.
Held: The Commission did have jurisdiction to investigate matters before the arrest, but it may be practical and proper to engage the local force to carry out that investigation. Such an extended investigation may in any event be required to satisfy the human rights obligations of the defendants.

Judges:

Collins J

Citations:

[2008] EWHC 1240 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Reform Act 2002 10, Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Secretary of State for Defence v Al-Skeini and others (The Redress Trust Intervening) HL 13-Jun-2007
Complaints were made as to the deaths of six Iraqi civilians which were the result of actions by a member or members of the British armed forces in Basra. One of them, Mr Baha Mousa, had died as a result of severe maltreatment in a prison occupied . .
Cited – Stephen Jordan (No 2) v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-Dec-2002
The applicant was a soldier who had been court marshalled for misuse of travel warrants. He wished to use in his defence his recent epilepsy. There was some delay while medical reports were obtained, and subsequently when the new legal system was . .
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 by:

Appeal from – Reynolds, Regina (on the Application of) v Independent Police Complaints Commission and Another CA 22-Oct-2008
The court was asked to consider whether the IPCC could investigate the circumstances leading to the arrest of a suspect who fell into a coma after being arrested for being drunk. The IPCC appealed, saying that it did not have jurisdiction to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.270063

DB v Chief Constable of Police Service of Northern Ireland: SC 1 Feb 2017

The appellant said that the police Service of Northern Ireland had failed properly to police the ‘flags protest’ in 2012 and 2013. The issue was not as to the care and effort taken, but an alleged misunderstanding of their powers.
Held: Treacy J was right in his conclusion that the police laboured under a misapprehension as to the extent of their powers and on that account alone the appeal must be allowed.
‘there is no reason to suppose that the avowed gaps in the 1998 Act were other than the product of deliberate legislative intention. Likewise it must now be clearly understood that the Parades Commission had no role where a proposed procession had not been notified. The attempt to persuade the commission to become involved was misconceived. The police did not have power to ban the parades but they had ample legal power to stop them. Contrary to ACC Kerr’s stated position, they could indeed be stopped solely because they were unnotified. There certainly was such a thing as an illegal parade under the Public Processions Act.’
Lord Kerr referred to a number of well-known cases about appellate interference with first instance findings of fact: ‘The statements in all of these cases and, of course, in McGraddie itself were made in relation to trials where oral evidence had been given. On one view, the situation is different where factual findings and the inferences drawn from them are made on the basis of affidavit evidence and consideration of contemporaneous documents. But the vivid expression in Anderson that the first instance trial should be seen as the ‘main event’ rather than a ‘tryout on the road’ has resonance even for a case which does not involve oral testimony. A first instance judgment provides a template on which criticisms are focused and the assessment of factual issues by an appellate court can be a very different exercise in the appeal setting than during the trial. Impressions formed by a judge approaching the matter for the first time may be more reliable than a concentration on the inevitable attack on the validity of conclusions that he or she has reached which is a feature of an appeal founded on a challenge to factual findings. The case for reticence on the part of the appellate court, while perhaps not as strong in a case where no oral evidence has been given, remains cogent.’

Judges:

Lord Neuberger, President, Lord Kerr, Lord Reed,Lord Hughes, Lord Dyson

Citations:

[2017] UKSC 7, UKSC 2014/0231

Links:

Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Summary (Video)

Statutes:

Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 32, European Convention on Human Rights 11

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Citing:

Appeal from – DB, Re Judicial Review CANI 1-Jul-2014
A complaint was made that the police had failed properly to understand and implement their duties in managing partisan marches in Northern Ireland.
Held: the 1998 Act had not been undermined by the decisions and actions of the police in . .
At QBNI – DB, Re Judicial Review QBNI 28-Apr-2014
The court granted the respondent’s application for judicial review of the policing by PSNI of certain parades which had not been notified in accordance with the requirements of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, finding that the . .
Cited – Molnar v Hungary ECHR 7-Oct-2008
ECHR The applicant alleged that the dispersal of the demonstration in which she had participated because of a mere lack of prior notification to the police had infringed her freedom of peaceful assembly, within . .
Cited – Clarke v Edinburgh and District Tramways Co HL 1919
The House considered the ability of an appellate court to reconsider the facts.
Held: The privileges enjoyed by a trial judge extend not only to questions of credibility.
Lord Shaw said that the judge enjoys ‘those advantages, sometimes . .
Cited – Yuill v Yuill CA 1944
Appellate Court’s Caution in Reassessing Facts
The Court of Appeal was invited to reverse the decision of the judge at first instance to accept the evidence of the petitioner (no evidence having been called by the respondent).
Held: The court considered the caution needed when overturning . .
Cited – Watt (or Thomas) v Thomas HL 1947
When Scots Appellate Court may set decision aside
The House considered when it was appropriate for an appellate court in Scotland to set aside the judgment at first instance.
Lord Thankerton said: ‘(1) Where a question of fact has been tried by a judge without a jury, and there is no question . .
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 – Re E (A Child); E v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Another (Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and others intervening) HL 12-Nov-2008
(Northern Ireland) Children had been taken to school in the face of vehement protests from Loyalists. The parents complained that the police had failed to protect them properly, since the behaviour was so bad as to amount to inhuman or degrading . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis v ZH CA 14-Feb-2013
The claimant was a young epileptic and autistic adult. On a supervised trip to a swimming pool, he became fascinated by the water, and the pool staff called the police. Through the police misunderstanding his needs, he ended up first in the water . .
Cited – McGraddie v McGraddie and Another (Scotland) SC 31-Jul-2013
The parties were father and son, living at first in the US. On the son’s wife becoming seriously ill, the son returned to Scotland. The father advanced a substantal sum for the purchase of a property to live in, but the son put the properties in his . .
Cited – Anderson v City of Bessemer City, North Carolina 19-Mar-1985
United States Supreme Court – The court explained some considerations for the deference to be given by an appellate court to findings of fact made by a lower court: ‘The rationale for deference to the original finder of fact is not limited to the . .
Cited – Housen v Nikolaisen 28-Mar-2002
Supreme Court of Canada – Torts – Motor vehicles – Highways – Negligence – Liability of rural municipality for failing to post warning signs on local access road — Passenger sustaining injuries in motor vehicle accident on rural road — Trial judge . .
Cited – Thomson v Kvaerner Govan Limited HL 31-Jul-2003
The defendant appealed reversal on appeal of the award of damages aganst them. The pursuer had been working within the hull of a ship, and the plank on which he was standing had snapped, causing him to fall. The plank should have been of sufficient . .

Cited by:

Cited – Adamson, Regina (on The Application of) v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council CA 18-Feb-2020
Appropriation was not in sufficient form
The claimants had challenged an order supporting the decision of the Council to use their allotments for a new primary school, saying that the land had be appropriated as allotment land, and that therefore the consent of the minister was needed.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.573800

James-Bowen and Others v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis: CA 30 Nov 2016

Appeal against the order of Jay J. striking out the particulars of claim and entering judgment for the respondent, the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, in an action brought against him by the four appellants, all of whom were, at the time of the events with which it is concerned, serving officers in the Metropolitan Police Service

Judges:

Moore-Bick VP CA, Longmore, Patten LJJ

Citations:

[2016] EWCA Civ 1217, [2016] WLR(D) 651

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – James-Bowen and Others v The Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis QBD 1-May-2015
The claimants were police officers, subject to disciplinary proceedings after a complaint by an arrested terrorist subject that he had been assaulted. The allegations were dismissed, but they now complained that the respondent had not implemented . .

Cited by:

Appeal fom – James-Bowen and Others v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 25-Jul-2018
The Court was asked whether the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (‘the Commissioner’) owes a duty to her officers, in the conduct of proceedings against her based on their alleged misconduct, to take reasonable care to protect them from . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.571934

Kay v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: Admn 27 Jun 2006

For many years and in many large cities, once a month, cyclists had gathered en masse to cycle through the city in a ‘Critical Mass’ demonstration. There was no central organisation. Clarification was sought as to whether the consent of the police was required under the 1986 Act.
Held: Whether there was anybody who might be prosecuted for leading a ride taking place without an order would be a matter for the police in each case. The court could not anticipate that. Nor could it be said that the purpose of the ride was not one governed by the 1986 Act. It was suggested that the procession had acquired the status of being a customary procession, however: ‘the denial of a collective intention falling within s.11(1) may not be easy to reconcile with the continuity of qualifying intention needed to attract the protection of s.11(2). Either will afford a defence, but it is hard to see how both can. ‘ There had now been 140 such rides, and it was not proper to deny that they had become common or customary, and no notice was required.
Sedley LJ contrasted the control powers in ss12 and 13, applying to any procession, notifiable or not, if the circumstances indicated a material threat of disorder or intimidation, with the purpose of s11 which was to permit the policing of processions, whether or not they posed such a threat.

Judges:

Sedley LJ, Gray J

Citations:

[2006] EWHC 1536 (Admin), Times 30-Jun-2006, [2006] Po LR 111, [2006] RTR 39, [2006] ACD 86

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Public Order Act 1986 811

Citing:

Cited – Flockhart v Robinson 1950
A challenge was made to the organising of a procession. Its route was determined by Mr Flockhart as he went along.
Held: For the purposes of section 3(4) of the 1936 Act, a procession ‘is a body of persons moving along a route’ and that, by . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Kay CA 21-May-2007
The commissioner appealed against a judgment that a mass cycle ride held regularly but over different routes did not first require notice to be given.
Held: The commissioner’s appeal succeeded. The fact that the route changed meant that the . .
At First Instance – Kay v Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis HL 26-Nov-2008
The claimant had been involved in a monthly cycle ride through central London which had continued for many years. The ride took place without any central organisation and without any route being pre-planned. They objected to being required to apply . .
Cited – Powlesland v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 9-Dec-2013
The defendant apealed against his conviction for having taken part in a public procession, a a Critical Mass Cycle Ride, knowingly in breach of conditions attached to it by the Police. The defendant had argued that the ride was not a procession.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Road Traffic

Updated: 07 July 2022; Ref: scu.242879

L, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: Admn 19 Mar 2006

The court considered the duties on the respondent in providing an enhanced criminal record certificate. In one case, the claimant had brought up her son who was made subject to child protection procedures for neglect. Her job involved supervising children at lunch time at a school. In the second case, a school head teacher had been prosecuted but found not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter after an autistic child wandered from the playground and was killed by a lorry. The Fire department had forbidden the use of locked gates. In assessing this for disclosure the police misread the judge’s statemnent as to her alleged negligence.
Held: Evidence of the claimant’s alleged negligence was something which the police could properly disclose. For enhanced disclosure, consideration and disclosure was not restricted to purely criminal records.

Judges:

Munby J

Citations:

[2006] EWHC 482 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1997 115, Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 4(2), Children and Young Persons Act 1933 1(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of North Wales Police and Others Ex Parte Thorpe and Another; Regina v Chief Constable for North Wales Police Area and others ex parte AB and CB CA 18-Mar-1998
Public Identification of Pedophiles by Police
AB and CB had been released from prison after serving sentences for sexual assaults on children. They were thought still to be dangerous. They moved about the country to escape identification, and came to be staying on a campsite. The police sought . .
Cited – Regina v Local Authority and Police Authority in the Midlands ex parte LM 2000
The applicant owned a bus company whose contract with the local education authority for the provision of school bus services was terminated after the disclosure by the police and the social services department of a past investigation into an . .
Cited – Regina (X) v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police CA 30-Jul-2004
The claimant had been accused of offences, but the prosecution had been discontinued when the child victims had failed to identify him. The police had nevertheless notified potential employers and he had been unable to obtain work as a social . .
Cited – Sidabras and Dziautas v Lithuania ECHR 27-Jul-2004
Former KGB officers had been banned from employment in a range of public and private sector jobs, including as lawyers, notaries, bank employees and in the teaching profession. They complained of infringement of Article 8 taken alone and also in . .
Cited – Regina v Sheppard HL 1981
The section made it an offence for anyone having care of a child to wilfully neglect the child ‘in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health’.
Held: The section speaks of an act or omission that is ‘likely’ to . .
Cited – Regina v Norfolk County Council, ex parte M QBD 1989
The plaintiff worked as a plumber. His work took him to a private children’s home. An allegation of sexual abuse was made against him by a 13 year old child. She had made other claims against other men which had proved to be false. He was released . .
Cited – Regina v Harrow London Borough Council ex parte D 1990
The court discussed the legal status of the Child Protection Register. Butler-Sloss LJ: ‘The case conference has a duty to make an assessment as to abuse and the abuser, if sufficient information is available. Of its nature, the mechanism of the . .
Cited – Regina v Shulman, Regina v Prentice, Regina v Adomako; Regina v Holloway HL 1-Jul-1994
An anaesthetist failed to observe an operation properly, and did not notice that a tube had become disconnected from a ventilator. The patient suffered a cardiac arrest and died, and the defendant was convicted of manslaughter, being guilty of gross . .
Cited – Regina v Hampshire County Council ex parte H Admn 17-Nov-1997
. .

Cited by:

Appeal from – L, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Another CA 1-Mar-2007
The court considered the proper content of an enhanced criminal record certificate. The claimant said that it should contain only matter relating to actual or potential criminal activity.
Held: As to the meaning of section 115: ‘if Parliament . .
At First Instance – L, Regina (On the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis SC 29-Oct-2009
Rebalancing of Enhanced Disclosure Requirements
The Court was asked as to the practice of supplying enhanced criminal record certificates under the 1997 Act. It was said that the release of reports of suspicions was a disproportionate interference in the claimants article 8 rights to a private . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Information

Updated: 06 July 2022; Ref: scu.242287

Chief Constable of West Midlands Police v White: CA 13 Mar 1992

After conviction for licensing offences, the police seized a sum of money from the respondent which they alleged was the proceeds of unlicensed sales. The magistrates made no order on conviction, so the police brought the issue under the Act. The magistrate found that the money was the proceeds of illegal trading, but nevertheless held that Mr White was the owner of it. The police appealed.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. Although the contracts for sale of unlicensed liquor were void and unenforceable, Mr White did become the owner of the money; it was impossible to identify any other persons as being the true owners of it; and the magistrate was not constrained on public policy grounds from making an order under the Act in favour of Mr White.

Judges:

Tudor Evans J, Beldam LJ

Citations:

Unreported, 13 March 1992

Statutes:

Police (Property) Act 1897 1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Gough and Another v The Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police CA 2-Mar-2004
The claimants sought return of vehicle parts from the police. The police replied that the goods had been tampered with in such a way as to suggest they may have been stolen, and that they were therefore kept, even after the finish of the court . .
Cited – Jackson v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police QBD 22-Oct-1993
Mr Jackson was convicted of a drugs offence. On arrest, the police had seized money in his possession. No order as to the money was made at the trial. Mr Jackson applied under the Act. The magistrate accepted that Mr Jackson was the owner of the . .
Cited – Merseyside Police v Owens Admn 31-May-2012
The police had refused to returns items seized from Mr Owens on the basis that to do so would indirectly encourage and assist him in suspected criminal activity. CCTV footage had been removed from him to attempt identify an arsonist of a house.The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Magistrates

Updated: 03 July 2022; Ref: scu.194108

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 failing and whether it made the proceedings a nullity.
Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. An action begun without the prior leave of the High Court was a complete nullity.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘the words first introduced in section 16(2) of the 1930 Act (‘No proceedings, civil or criminal, shall be brought’) appear to be clear in their effect and have always been thought to be so. They were introduced with the obvious object of giving mental health professionals greater protection than they had enjoyed before. They were re-enacted with knowledge of the effect the courts had given to them. ‘ (Lord Woolf and Baroness Hale dissenting)
Baroness Hale of Richmond (dissenting) said: ‘I approach the task of construing section 139(2), therefore, on the basis that Parliament, by enacting the procedural requirement to obtain leave, did not intend the result to be that a claimant might be deprived of access to the courts, unless there is express language or necessary implication to the contrary. If there is no express language, there will be no necessary implication unless the legislative purpose cannot be achieved in any other way. Procedural requirements are there to serve the ends of justice, not to defeat them. It does not serve the ends of justice for a claimant to be deprived of a meritorious claim because of a procedural failure which does no substantial injustice to the defendant.’

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Woolf, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood

Citations:

Times 05-Jul-2007, [2007] UKHL 31, [2007] 4 All ER 177, [2007] 1 WLR 1910

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Mental Health Act 1983 139

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Rendall v Blair 1890
Where a statute requires leave to commence proceedings to be granted, a failure to obtain such consent does not automatically render the proceedings a nullity.
Bowen LJ said: ‘this section is not framed in the way in which sections are framed . .
Appeal from – Seal v Chief Constable of South Wales Police CA 19-May-2005
Mr Seal noisily objected to a neighbour blocking in his car. Police were called who took him into custody under the 1983 Act. He was released several days later, and eventually sought damages for his wrongful treatment. He had failed to first seek . .
Cited – Regina v Immigration Appeal Tribunal, ex Parte Jeyeanthan Admn 3-Apr-1998
An appeal by the Home Secretary against a ruling that he had to use the same prescribed form as would be used by the asylum seeker. The use of a letter which omitted a substantial and important declaration was invalid. Lord Woolf MR made plain the . .
Cited – In re Saunders (A Bankrupt) ChD 1997
Very emphatic language was required in a statute before want of leave should, without more, result in proceedings being treated as a nullity. Leave could in appropriate circumstances be granted after the event notwithstanding the proceedings had . .
Cited – Pyx Granite Ltd v Ministry of Housing and Local Government HL 1959
There is a strong presumption that Parliament will not legislate to prevent individuals affected by legal measures promulgated by executive public bodies having a fair opportunity to challenge these measures and to vindicate their rights in court . .
Cited – Regina v Angel CACD 1968
The failure to obtain the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions to a prosecution under section 8 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 rendered the whole of the trial, including the committal proceedings, a complete nullity. . .
Cited – Horton v Sadler and Another HL 14-Jun-2006
The claimant had been injured in a road traffic accident for which the defendant was responsible in negligence. The defendant was not insured, and so a claim was to be made against the MIB. The plaintiff issued proceedings just before the expiry of . .
Cited – Bradford Corporation v Myers HL 1916
The 1893 Act was criticised for its complexity. A section gave protection to public authorities for ‘any act done in pursuance, or execution, or intended execution of any Act of Parliament, or of any power duty or authority, or in respect of any . .
Cited – Magor and St Mellons Rural District Council v Newport Corporaion HL 1951
The Court of Appeal had tried to fill in the gaps in a statute where parliament had intended an effect.
Held: Rights to compensation are well capable of falling within the definition of ‘property of a company’ in the relevant provisions of the . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Defence v Warn HL 1970
A courts martial prosecution begun without the necessary prior consent, the proceedings were a nullity. . .
Cited – Golder v The United Kingdom ECHR 21-Feb-1975
G was a prisoner who was refused permission by the Home Secretary to consult a solicitor with a view to bringing libel proceedings against a prison officer. The court construed article 6 of ECHR, which provides that ‘in the determination of his . .
Cited – Walkley v Precision Forgings Ltd CA 1978
The plaintiff appealed the strict application of the limitation laws against his claim. He had been injured whilst working as a grinder. He began one claim which lapsed, and began a second claim outside the limitation period, requesting the court to . .
Cited – London and Clydeside Estates v Aberdeen District Council HL 8-Nov-1979
Identifying ‘maandatory’ and ‘regulatory’
The appellants had sought a Certificate of Alternative Development. The certificate provided was defective in that it did not notify the appellants, as required, of their right to appeal. Their appeal out of time was refused.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Regina v Pearce CACD 1980
The lack of a required consent by the Attorney General, under section 4(3) of the 1977 Act led to the quashing of the conviction. . .
Cited – Ashingdane v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-May-1985
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 . .
Cited – Regina v Soneji and Bullen HL 21-Jul-2005
The defendants had had confiscation orders made against them. They had appealed on the basis that the orders were made more than six months after sentence. The prosecutor now appealed saying that the fact that the order were not timely did not . .
Cited – Stubbings and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Oct-1996
There was no human rights breach where the victims of sex abuse had been refused a right to sue for damages out of time. The question is whether and to what extent differences in otherwise similar situations justify a different treatment in law: . .
Cited – M v United Kingdom ECHR 1987
The protection of those responsible for the care of mental patients from being harassed by litigation is a legitimate objective. . .
Cited – Winch v Jones CA 1986
The court asked as to the criteria which should be applied when considering an application by a mental patient for leave to bring proceedings under section 139: ‘section 139 protects the defendant unless and until the applicant obtains leave. This . .

Cited by:

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 – Adorian v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis CA 23-Jan-2009
The claimant received injuries when arrested. He was later convicted of resisting arrest. The defendant relied on section 329 of the 2003 Act. The claimant said that the force used against him was grossly disproportionate. The commissioner appealed . .
Cited – TW v London Borough of Enfield and Another QBD 8-May-2013
The claimant sought damages after being detained under the 1983 Act, and a declaration that the section used was incompatible with her human rights.
Held: The test for allowing proceedings was set at a low level, and even if section 139 does . .
Cited – Park v Cho and Others ChD 24-Jan-2014
The parties disputed the chairmanship of a charity. The claimant succeeded, but a third party later intervened saying that permission had not first been obtained from the Charity Commission as required. The defendant now appealed against the lifting . .
Cited – Lalchan, Regina v CACD 27-May-2022
Conviction withoiut required Consent was Unsafe
Whether a conviction for an offence which requires the consent of the Attorney General before the proceedings are instituted can stand when no such consent was obtained.
Held: The appellant’s arguments were well-founded and his conviction on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Police

Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.254551

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 died of a cardiac arrest whilst being restrained pending the arrival of a doctor. The family believed excessive force had been used. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing. The officers asked the court to quash the verdict.
Held: The coroner would have been justified in not leaving the verdict of unlawful killing to the jury: ‘The evidence to support it was very tenuous and the absence of any criticism of the police was a telling point. But it was more likely that being held face down would have produced hypoxia and so it was open to the jury to find causation proved. It was vitally important that they should have received a careful direction so that they knew that it was only if the holding face down had contributed substantially to hypoxia and that hypoxia had contributed substantially to death that a verdict of unlawful killing could be found. They received no such direction. Thus I am just persuaded that the coroner did not err in law in leaving unlawful killing to the jury. Equally, he would not have erred if he had declined to leave it. ‘ However: ‘I have no doubt that a verdict of unlawful killing was not and would not be a just verdict.’ The verdict was quashed.

Judges:

Mr Justice Collins

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2729 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Mental Health Act 1983 136

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Palmer v The Queen PC 23-Nov-1970
It is a defence in criminal law to a charge of assault if the defendant had an honest belief that he was going to be attacked and reacted with proportionate force: ‘If there has been an attack so that defence is reasonably necessary, it should be . .
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 – Regina v HM Coroner for Inner London South District, ex parte Douglas-Williams CA 29-Jan-1998
The deceased died in custody. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. It was suggested that the coroner’s direction as to unlawful killing had been confusing, and that he was wrong not to leave open the possibility of a verdict of neglect. . .
Cited – Regina v Galbraith CCA 1981
Rejection of Submission of No Case to Answer
The defendant had faced a charge of affray. The court having rejected his submission of having no case to answer, he had made an exculpatory statement from the dock. He appealed against his conviction.
Held: Lord Lane LCJ said: ‘How then . .
Cited – Regina v HM Coroner for Inner London South District, ex parte Douglas-Williams CA 29-Jan-1998
The deceased died in custody. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. It was suggested that the coroner’s direction as to unlawful killing had been confusing, and that he was wrong not to leave open the possibility of a verdict of neglect. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Coroners, Police

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.220045

Robinson and Another v Northumbria Police Authority and Another: CA 12 Oct 2001

Two police officers sought damages after their patrol car was trapped and attacked by youths. Senior officers were aware of such attacks, and considered arrangements for different windscreens.
Held: The risk was forseeable, and given the additional known risks faced by police officers, it was reasonable for the authority to have acted.

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1556

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Health and Safety, Negligence

Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.218461

Allan v The United Kingdom: ECHR 5 Nov 2002

The appellant had been convicted of murder. The police had encouraged an informant to associate with him whilst in prison and to entice admissions from him. They had also recorded conversations whilst he was in the police station cells.
Held: No system regulated such recordings, and accordingly the recordings were not according to law, and were an infringement of his human rights. As to the conversations with the fellow inmate, it was not the function of the Court to adjudicate on matters of fact, nor as to the admissibility of evidence. The question for the court was whether the behaviour was such as to render the proceedings as a whole unfair. This included whether there had been shown due respect for the rights of the defence. The right against self-incrimination includes the right not to incriminate oneself through coercion or oppression, in defiance of the will of the accused. He had here exercised his right of silence on interview. The police had coached the informant to try to extract a confession, and the confessions obtained were not spontaneous or unprompted. The confessions were obtained in defiance of his will, and in breach of his article 6 rights to a fair trial. Art 13 had also been infringed by the use of wrongful surveillance without effective remedy.
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8 ; Violation of Art. 6-1 ; Violation of Art. 13 ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award ; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings

Citations:

Times 12-Nov-2002, 48539/99, [2002] ECHR 697, [2002] ECHR 702

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights Art 8.1 Art 6 Art 13

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Human Rights, Evidence, Police

Updated: 21 June 2022; Ref: scu.177895

Chief Constable of Lancashire v Wilson and Others: QBD 14 Jul 2015

The court was asked to consider the compatibility of provisions in the 2009 Act with Human Rights law, in determining the rights of the individual subject to orders.

Judges:

Kerr J

Citations:

[2015] EWHC 2763 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Policing and Crime Act 2009

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 18 June 2022; Ref: scu.566578

A, Re Application for Judicial Review: QBNI 25 Jun 2001

The applicant, who feared for his life if identified, sought the release to him of materials discovered by the police in searching premises associated with a loyalist paramiliitary group. He thought that they might include information sourced form the security services. The request was refused. The police offered assistance and advice with the applicant’s security instead.
Held: The state had a duty to assess such a risk, and to provide some information to the applicant, but also had a margin of appreciation as to how it would protect the lives of an individual. He was not entitled to obtain this information in order to take proceedings himself against those who had released information about him. He remained free to take proceedings if he wished.

Judges:

Kerr J

Citations:

[2001] NIQB 21

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Citing:

Cited – Ogur v Turkey ECHR 20-May-1999
A nightwatchman at a mining site, the claimant’s son, was killed one morning by Turkish security forces when he was coming off duty. The Government said that the scene of the incident had been used as a shelter by terrorists. The applicant claimed . .
Cited – Aydin v Turkey ECHR 25-Sep-1997
ECHR Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection rejected (estoppel); Violation of Art. 3; Violation of Art. 13; Not necessary to examine Art. 6-1; No violation of Art. 25-1; Not necessary to . .
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 – Regina v Director of Public Prosecutions, ex parte Kebilene and others HL 28-Oct-1999
(Orse Kebeline) The DPP’s appeal succeeded. A decision by the DPP to authorise a prosecution could not be judicially reviewed unless dishonesty, bad faith, or some other exceptional circumstance could be shown. A suggestion that the offence for . .
Cited – Taylor and Others v Director of The Serious Fraud Office and Others HL 29-Oct-1998
The defendant had requested the Isle of Man authorities to investigate the part if any taken by the plaintiff in a major fraud. No charges were brought against the plaintiff, but the documents showing suspicion came to be disclosed in the later . .
Cited – Velikova v Bulgaria ECHR 18-May-2000
The applicant complained under Articles 2, 6, 13 and 14 of the Convention in respect inter alia of the alleged ineffective investigation into the death in police custody of Mr Tsonchev, the man with whom she had been living.
Held: ‘The Court . .
Cited – Aytekin v Turkey ECHR 23-Sep-1998
The applicant was the widow of a man who was unlawfully killed by a soldier. The soldier had been prosecuted for causing the death of the applicant’s husband and had been convicted of unintentional homicide. The widow’s appeal against the verdict . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Administrative

Updated: 13 June 2022; Ref: scu.202147

Regina on the Application of Sussex Police Authority v Dr Cooling, French: QBD 22 Jul 2004

Judges:

Mr Justice Collins

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 1920 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Pensions Regulations 1987

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Merseyside Police Authority v Police Medical Appeal Board and others Admn 23-Jan-2009
Two police officers had been granted additional retirement annuities on the basis that they had been injured in the execution of their duty. The chief constable denied this. A police officer who was on annual leave was injured whilst exercising the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.200312

Taylor (A Child Proceeding By his Mother and Litigation Friend C M Taylor) v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police: CA 6 Jul 2004

The Chief Constable appealed aganst a finding that his officers had wrongfully arrested and imprisoned the claimant. The claimant was 10 years old when arrested, and complained that the officers had not properly advised him of the nature and purpose of the arrest.
Held: ‘The question is thus whether, having regard to all the circumstances of the particular case, the person arrested was told in simple, non-technical language that he could understand, the essential legal and factual grounds for his arrest.’ The cases are fact sensitive. The claimant was told he was being arrested for a violent disorder on an identified previous occasion. To ask the officer to go further would invite even more doubt. As to the period of detention, the judge was entitled to find on the evidence that the delay in interview had been unreasonable.

Judges:

Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Sedley Vice-Chancellor, The Vice-Chancellor

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 858, Times 13-Jul-2004, [2004] 3 All ER 503, [2004] 1 WLR 3155

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Christie v Leachinsky HL 25-Mar-1947
Arrested Person must be told basis of the Arrest
Police officers appealed against a finding of false imprisonment. The plaintiff had been arrested under the 1921 Act, but this provided no power of arrest (which the appellant knew). The officers might lawfully have arrested the plaintiff for the . .
Cited – Murphy v Oxford CA 15-Feb-1985
. .
Cited – Abbassy v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 28-Jul-1989
The court considered what information had to be given to a suspect on his arrest.
Held: The question whether or not the information given is adequate has to be assessed objectively having regard to the information which is reasonably available . .
Cited – Mercer v Chief Constable of Lancashire CA 1991
When justifying a detention, the Chief Constable must prove it ‘was lawful minute by minute and hour by hour’. . .
Cited – Fox, Campbell and Hartley v The United Kingdom ECHR 30-Aug-1990
The court considered the required basis for a reasonable suspicion to found an arrest without a warrant: ‘The ‘reasonableness’ of the suspicion on which an arrest must be based forms an essential part of the safeguard against arbitrary arrest and . .
Cited – Wilding v Chief Constable of Lancashire CA 22-May-1995
The court considered a claim by a woman for wrongful arrest and unlawful detention by police officers who had reasonably suspected her of burglary of the house of her former partner. In interview by the police, she denied the offence and made . .
Cited – Woods v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 26-May-1995
The court in considering the period of detention of the claimant, asked itself whether the circumstances were such that the decision of the custody sergeant was unreasonable in the sense that no custody sergeant, applying common sense to the . .

Cited by:

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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other, Children

Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.198601

Cleveland Police Authority and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Knapper: Admn 23 Mar 2004

Application for judicial review by the Cleveland Police Authority in respect of a decision of a medical referee who was concerned in deciding, under the relevant regulations whether the ex-police officer in question had suffered injury in the execution of his duty. If he had, he was entitled to an extra amount by way of pension and gratuity over and above that which was available to him, having retired from the Force on the grounds of ill health.

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 770 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.197065

McGibbon and Corstorphine v Her Majesty’s Advocate: HCJ 19 Feb 2004

It was conceded that there had been a breach of article 8 in the obtaining of covert video and audio recordings of the appellants’ incriminating conversations.
Held: If there was a breach by the police of article 8, it did not follow that the evidence thereby obtained was inadmissible. Any breach of article 8 in the obtaining of the evidence was due to acts of the police, not the Lord Advocate.
Lord Justice Clerk Gill said that the act that was relevant to section 57(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 was the act of the Lord Advocate in leading the evidence.

Judges:

Lord Johnston And Lord Justice Clerk And Lord Wheatley

Citations:

[2004] ScotHC 13, 2004 SCCR 193, 2004 JC 60

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1997, European Convention on Human Rights 6 8, Scotland Act 1998 57(2)

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – Kinloch v Her Majesty’s Advocate SC 19-Dec-2012
The appellant said that the police officers had acted unlawfully when collecting the evidence used against him, in that the information used to support the request for permission to undertake clandestine surveillance had been insufficiently . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Evidence, Police, Human Rights

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.193809

Regina (Hewitson) v Chief Constable of Dorset Police and another: QBD 18 Dec 2003

The claimant had been arrested under an extradition warrant. He complained that the police took the opportunity to search his girflriend’s nearby flat. The police responded that the search was conducted under a common law power of search attached to the warrant for his arrest.
Held: The search was unlawful, since the connection between the claimant and the flat was tenuous. A request by the police to extend th ecommonlaw pronciples was not allowed.

Citations:

Times 06-Jan-2004, [2003] EWHC 3296 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Extradition Act 1989 8(1)(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Regina v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis, ex parte Rottman HL 16-May-2002
The defendant had been arrested under an extradition warrant issued under the Act. The police had searched his premises, and found further evidence which was used to support the application for extradition. He challenged the collection and admission . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.190237