CFB -v- Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case number: AC-2025-LON-002766

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

19 August 2025

Before:

The Hon. Mr Justice Sweeting

Between:

The King
on the application of
CFB
(by his litigation friend, Afnan Salah Omer Khalid)

-v-

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Order

On an application by the Claimant for anonymity and expedition

UPON READING the Claimant’s Claim Form, Statement of Facts and Grounds, N463 Application for Urgent Consideration, and written evidence in support

ORDER BY THE HON. Mr Justice Sweeting

  1. Anonymity:

(a) Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction and/or 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 CFB

(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.

(c) Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):

(i) the parties must within 7 days file a redacted copy of any statement of case 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;

(iii) unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non- party many obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case.

(d) Any person wishing to vary or discharge this Order must make an application, served on each party.

  1. Abridgement of time and expedition:

(a) The Defendant’s Acknowledgement of Service (CPR 54.8) and summary grounds of resistance including its response to the Claimant’s application for interim relief must be filed and served by 4pm on 3 September 2025.

(b) The papers are to be referred to a judge or deputy judge within 14 days thereafter for the court to consider the applications for permission and interim relief.

REASONS

(1) Anonymity: The Claimant is a vulnerable asylum seeker and putative child. The claim relies on personal information in which the Claimant has a reasonable expectation of privacy. There are accordingly compelling reasons for the limited derogations from the principle of open justice in paragraph 1.

(2) Expedition: Given the conflicting evidence and assessments there is a realistic prospect, or arguable case that at a substantive fact-finding hearing the court will reach a relevant conclusion that the claimant is of a younger age than that assessed by the local authority and is or was on the relevant date a child. Whilist I am mindful of the additional burden that an order for expedition may place upon the local authority there has already been a full pre-action response. The Claimant has an arguable case that the balance of convenience may favour the grant of the interim relief sought and if so that it should not be delayed.

Signed: Mr Justice Sweeting

Date: 19 August 2025