EBA -v- Defence Secretary and Home Secretary (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2025-LON-003332

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

7 January 2026

Before:

The Honourable Mr Justice Swift

Between:

THE KING on the application of
EBA

-v-

(1) SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE
(2) SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME OFFICE

Order

Notification of Judge’s Decision (CPR 54.11, 54.12)

Following consideration of the documents filed by the Claimant and the Defendants

ORDER by the Honourable Mr Justice Swift

  1. 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 and the names of the Interested Parties shall 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 EBA.
  2. 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 his identification as a party to these proceedings in any report of, or otherwise in connection with, these proceedings.
  3. Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):
    (iii) 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;
    (iv) 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;
    (v) unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non-party many obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case.
  4. Any person wishing to vary or discharge paragraphs 1 – 3 of this Order must make an application, served on each party.
  5. The application for permission to apply for judicial review is granted.

Observations

  1. The application for anonymity is warranted in light of the circumstances described at paragraphs 9 – 10, and 13 – 17 of the Claimant’s witness statement.
  2. The Defendant’s Summary Grounds of Defence contain powerful points in response to the claim; the claim is not as compelling as the Claimant’s pleadings might suggest. Nevertheless, I am satisfied that this is a claim that should be considered at a full hearing.
  3. The request for specific disclosure in the Claim Form is premature. Any request for disclosure should await consideration of the Defendant’s Detailed Grounds of Resistance and any further evidence served. Even then, should any application for specific disclosure be made, it must be limited to documents necessary for the fair determination of the issues in this case. An application for specific disclosure is not the occasion to search for documents on the off chance that they may contain something that gives rise to an opportunity to raise further/different grounds of challenge.

Case Management Directions


(a) The Defendant must, within 35 days of the date of service of this Order, file and serve (i) Detailed Grounds for contesting the claim or supporting it on additional grounds and (ii) any written evidence to be relied on.
(b) The Defendant may comply with sub-paragraph (a)(i) above by filing and serving a document which states that its Summary Grounds are to stand as the Detailed Grounds required by CPR 54.14.
(c) Any application by the Claimant to serve evidence in reply must be filed and served, together with a copy of that evidence, within 21 days of the date on which the Defendant serves evidence pursuant to (a) above.
(d) The parties must agree the contents of the hearing bundle. An electronic version of the bundle must be prepared and lodged, in accordance with the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide Chapter 21 and the Guidance on the Administrative Court website, not less than 28 days before the date of the substantive hearing. The parties must, if requested by the Court, lodge 2 hard copy versions of the hearing bundle.
(e) The Claimant must file and serve a Skeleton Argument (maximum 25 pages), complying with CPR 54 PD para. 15 and the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide paras 20.1 to 20.3, not less than 21 days before the date of the substantive hearing.
(f) The Defendant must file and serve a Skeleton Argument (maximum 25 pages), complying with CPR 54 PD para. 15 and the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide paras 20.1 to 20.3, not less than 14 days before the date of the substantive hearing.
(g) The parties must agree the contents of a bundle containing the authorities to be referred to at the hearing. An electronic version of the bundle must be prepared in accordance with the Guidance on the Administrative Court website. The parties must, 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, must be lodged with the Court not less than 7 days before the date of the substantive hearing.
(h) The time estimate for the substantive hearing is 1½ days. If either party considers that this time estimate should be varied, they must inform the court as soon as possible.
(i) CPR 2.11 (variation of timetable by written agreement between the parties) does not apply.