Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis -v- Police Misconduct Panel (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2024-LON-001947

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

30 July 2024

Before:

The Honourable Mr Justice Lavender

Between:

The King on the application of
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

-v-

Police Misconduct Panel

and
Daniel Fletcher
(Interested party)

Order

Notification of the Judge’s decision on the application for permission to apply for judicial review (CPR 54.11, 54.12)

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant and the Acknowledgment of Service filed by the Defendant

ORDER by the Honourable Mr Justice Lavender

  1. The application for permission to apply for judicial review is granted.

Directions

2. The application is to be listed for 3 hours; the parties to provide a written time estimate within 7 days of service of this order if they disagree with this direction.

3. The Defendant and any other person served with the Claim Form who wishes to contest the claim or support it on additional grounds shall, within 35 days of the date of service of this Order, file and serve (a) Detailed Grounds for contesting the claim or supporting it on additional grounds, and (b) any written evidence that is to be relied on. For the avoidance of doubt, a party who has filed and served Summary Grounds pursuant to CPR 54.8 may comply with (a) above by filing and serving a document which states that those Summary Grounds shall stand as the Detailed Grounds required by CPR 54.14.

4. Any application by the Claimant to serve evidence in reply shall be filed and served within 21 days of the date on which the Defendant serves evidence pursuant to 1(b) above.

5. The parties shall agree the contents of the hearing bundle and must file it with the Court not less than 4 weeks before the date of the hearing of the judicial review. An electronic version of the bundle shall be prepared and lodged in accordance with the Guidance on the Administrative Court website. The parties shall, if requested by the Court lodge 2 hard-copy versions of the hearing bundle.

6. The Claimant must file and serve a Skeleton Argument not less than 21 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review.

7. The Defendant and any Interested Party must file and serve a Skeleton Argument not less than 14 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review.

8. The parties shall agree the contents of a bundle containing the authorities to be referred to at the hearing. An electronic version of the bundle shall be prepared in accordance with the Guidance on the Administrative Court website. The parties shall if requested by the Court, prepare a hard-copy version of the authorities bundle. The
electronic version of the bundle and if requested, the hard copy version of the bundle, shall be lodged with the Court not less than 3 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review.

Anonymity

9. Pursuant to CPR Rule 39.2(4) there shall be no publication in any newspaper or other media or other disclosure of any name, address, image or other information tending to identify the Complainant in
relation to her involvement in these proceedings.

10. Pursuant to CPR Rule 5.4C a person who is not a party to the proceedings may obtain a copy of a Statement of Case, Judgment or Order from the Court records only if the Statement of Case, Judgment or Order has been anonymised such that: (a) the Complainant is referred to in those documents as ‘PCA’; and (b) the address of the
Complainant has been deleted from those documents.

11. Insofar as any Statement of Case, Judgment, Order or other document to which anyone might have access pursuant to CPR Rule 5.4A-D does not comply with paragraph 10 above, the Claimant’s solicitors have permission to file with the Court copies of any such document adjusted so that it does comply. Such copies are to be treated for all purposes as being in substitution for the relevant original and the originals are then to be retained by the Court in a sealed envelope marked “not to be opened without the permission of a Judge or Master of the King’s Bench Division”.

12. Any interested party, whether or not a party to the proceedings, may apply to the Court to set aside, vary or discharge paragraphs 9 to 11 of this Order, provided that any such application is made on 7 working days’ notice to the Claimant’s solicitors.

13. No order as to the costs of the application for anonymity.

Observations

The application for permission to apply for judicial review is arguable. As for anonymity, it may be that section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 applies to the Complainant, but, whether or not that section applies,
anonymity is necessary for similar reasons.