April 9, 2025

BWS -v- Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and JCIO (anonymity order)

Administrative Court Civil High Court King's Bench Division Anonymity Order

Case number: AC-2025-LON-000815

In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
Administrative Court

In the matter of an application for judicial review

1 April 2025

The King
on the application of
BWS

-v-

(1) Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
(2) Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales
(3) Judicial Conduct Investigations Office

Order

On an application by the Claimant for interim relief and directions

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant and the Defendant

And upon the parties being in agreement to the following orders being made at this stage

And for the reasons provided

IT IS ORDERED that:

(1) Anonymity:

(a) Under the Court’s inherent jurisdiction and pursuant to s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998:

(i) the Claimant’s name is to be withheld from the public and must not be disclosed in any proceedings in public; and

(ii) the Claimant is to be referred to orally and in writing as “BWS”.

(b) Pursuant to s. 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, there must be no publication of the identity of the Claimant or of any matter likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant in any report of, or otherwise in connection with, these proceedings.

(i) the parties must within 7 days file and serve a redacted copy of any statement of case already filed, omitting the name, address and any other information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant;

(ii) if any statement of case subsequently filed includes information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant, a redacted copy omitting that information must be filed at the same time and must then be served with the unredacted version;

(iii) in addition to the above directions given in respect of the statement of case, in any acknowledgement of service, summary grounds of defence, witness statement, skeleton argument, or other document produced for the purposes of these proceedings and filed with the Court, the Claimant must be identified only as “BWS”.

(iv) unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non-party may obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case or other document filed with the Court in these proceedings. Any such application must be made in writing, with 5 clear days’ notice to the parties.

(d) The Court file will be clearly marked with the words “An anonymity order was made in this case on 1 April 2025 and any application by a non-party to inspect or obtain a document from this file must be dealt with in accordance with the terms of this order”.

(e) Any person wishing to vary or discharge this Order must make an application, served on each party, such application to be made in writing on at least 5 days’ clear notice and supported by evidence.

(f) In any event, the Court shall review the question whether an anonymity order should remain in place, either: (i) when determining whether to grant permission (should the Claimant pursue her claim following the stay imposed by paragraph 2 below), or (ii) when making a final Order in respect of the claim (if the Claimant withdraws or discontinues her claim following the stay). In either case, the Court will first invite further submissions from the parties as to whether such an Order should remain in place.

Stay of proceedings:

(a) These proceedings be stayed pending the decision of the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman (“the Ombudsman”) on the Claimant’s appeal to the Ombudsman.

(b) The Claimant to apply on written notice to the Defendants to lift the stay if either (i) the Ombudsman does not wish to investigate this matter until after the conclusion of these proceedings, or (ii) the Ombudsman has reached a decision. The Claimant is to apply to lift the stay within 21 days of either of those events, setting out whether she wishes to pursue this claim or withdraw it.

(c) Upon the stay being lifted, and if the Claimant seeks to pursue her claim, the Defendants will have 21 days from the date of the order lifting the stay to file and serve an Acknowledgment of Service and Summary Grounds of Defence.

REASONS

Anonymity:
(1) The Claimant’s claim includes a request for an anonymity Order. proceedings, this is agreed by all parties.

(2) Upon the Court’s consideration of request for anonymity, it is accepted that, at this stage of the proceedings and on the information available, there exist compelling reasons for the limited derogation from the principle of open justice as provided at paragraph 1 of the Order. The Claimant has a significant medical condition and her claim relies on personal medical information in which the Claimant has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Stay of Proceedings:
(3) The parties are in agreement that these proceedings should be stayed at this stage to
allow time for the Ombudsman to consider the Claimant’s appeal. Although the Ombudsman has indicated that he would normally defer his decision until after any judicial review proceedings have concluded, given possible questions regarding alternative remedy, there are grounds for considering that the current proceedings ought to be stayed to allow the Ombudsman to determine the appropriate course in this particular case. A stay is thus imposed pending the Ombudsman’s decision as to whether or not to investigate this matter and/or determination of the Claimant’s appeal.

Signed: Mrs Justice Eady DBE
Dated: 01/04/2025