EFW -v- London Borough of Bromley (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case No: CO/3139/2022

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

11 October 2022

Before:

The Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE

Between:

The King on the application of
EFW

-v-

London Borough of Bromley


On an application for permission to apply for judicial review and to attach a penal notice to the consent order dated 12 September 2012, and sealed on 5 October 2022;

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the parties

Order by the Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE

  1. The order for anonymity made by Mr Justice Johnson on 1 September 2022 is confirmed.
  2. The Claimant’s application to attach a penal notice to the consent order dated 12 September 2022 and sealed on 5 October 2022 is refused.
  3. The Defendant do file and serve within 7 days of the date of this order a witness statement describing the steps already taken, and the steps that it proposes to take, to give effect to the order of 12 September 2022 so as to secure suitable accommodation for the Claimant, in discharge of its duty under section 188(1) of the Housing Act 1996.
  4. The Claimant may, if so advised, file and serve a witness statement in response, within 7 days of service of the Defendant’s witness statement.
  5. The case is to be listed for an oral permission hearing and a hearing of the application for interim relief in the first or second week of November 2022. Time estimate: 1½ hours.
  6. Costs in the case.

Reasons

The Claimant is a single parent caring for 9 children. She is homeless, having left her former partner and the family home following allegations of sexual abuse against him made by two female children in her family. An order for anonymity is required to protect against the risk that details of the children, and their whereabouts may be published.

The Defendant has submitted in the Acknowledgment of Service that the claim has become academic because, by a consent order dated 12 September 2022, it agreed to secure suitable accommodation for the Claimant in discharge of its duty under section 188(1) of the Housing Act 1996. I agree that the claim would become academic in those circumstances.

However, the Claimant’s solicitors have notified the Court that the Defendant has not complied with the order and they seek a penal notice to be attached to the order. I do not consider that a penal notice is the appropriate course of action in this case. I have ordered the Defendant to explain the position to the Court, and ordered an oral permission hearing and application for interim relief in the first two weeks of November 2022.