FG -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case number: AC-2024-LON-001596

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

4 November 2024

Before:

Mr Alan Bates
sitting as a Judge of the High Court

Between:

The King
on the application of
FG

-v-

Secretary of State for the Home Department

Order

Notification of: (a) decision on anonymity; and (b) procedural decision relating to the Claimant’s application for interim relief

Following consideration of:

(i) the Claimant’s application for anonymity set out in his judicial review claim form and Statement of Facts and Grounds; and

(ii) the Claimant’s application for interim relief dated 24 October 2024

ORDER by Mr Alan Bates sitting as a Judge of the High Court

Anonymity, reporting restrictions, and restrictions on access to the court file

  1. Pursuant to CPR 39.2, CPR 5.4C, section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, and having regard to section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 read with section 2(1)(db) of that Act and section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and to the Human Rights Act 1998 (including, in particular, section 12 of the Act, and Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention Rights set out in Scheule 1 thereto):

    (a) The Claimant shall have anonymity in these proceedings unless and until the Court orders otherwise. He shall be referred to in these proceedings (including in the title of this action henceforth) as “FG”. Statements of case and skeleton arguments filed in these proceedings after the date of this Order shall refer to the Claimant using the anonymising moniker assigned to him in this paragraph of this Order, and shall not include the Claimant’s name or address, or the name or address of any member of the Claimant’s family.

    (b) The parties shall, within 7 days of the date of this Order, each refile their respective statements of case which were originally filed prior to the date of this Order and which included the Claimant’s name or address, or the name or address of any member of his family. The re-filed versions of the statements of case shall be in redacted form such that they do not show any of that information. The re-filed statements of case shall include text, in red coloured font, stating: “Redacted version filed following anonymisation ordered on 4 November 2024”.

    (c) 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.

    (d) No non-party may obtain a copy of any statement of case (or any other document) from these proceedings which contains the Claimant’s name or address, or the name or address of any member of the Claimant’s family, unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6).

2. Liberty to any person to apply on notice to the parties to vary or discharge paragraph 1 of this Order.

The Claimant’s application for interim relief

3. The Claimant’s interim relief application will be determined by Deputy High Court Judge Bates on the papers, not at a hearing.

4. The Defendant shall file any response to the Claimant’s interim relief application by 4:00pm on Monday 11 November 2024. The application for interim relief will be determined on the papers after that date.

REASONS

  1. Anonymity and reporting restrictions: I am satisfied that it is necessary and proportionate to make an order for anonymisation and limited restrictions of access to the court file, so as to protect the Claimant from being publicly identified. He is claiming to be a victim of modern slavery and the subject matter of these proceedings is whether that claim is meritorious (and I therefore proceed on the basis that it may be so). In the circumstances, there may be a risk of harm to him or his family from persons who previously enslaved him. Further, it is apparent from section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 read with section 2(1)(db) of that Act and section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 that Parliament has judged that victims of modern slavery should be protected from being publicly identified. The interference with freedom of expression and open justice is proportionate, given that hearings will continue to be held in public, and statements of case will be available to non-parties (including the press) subject to anonymising redactions.

  2. For the same reasons, I have imposed reporting restrictions to protect the Claimant from being publicly identified. This is logical in order to achieve the practical result of protecting the Claimant from being publicly identified in connection with these proceedings, even though such restriction has not been expressly sought by the Claimant in his claim form and accompanying draft order. Otherwise there is a risk of the purpose of the anonymisation being frustrated.

  3. The Claimant’s application for interim relief: The Claimant has applied for interim relief in circumstances where the claim was issued in May 2024, the Court has ordered an expedited rolled-up hearing, but the listing for that hearing is not until 28 January 2025. Although the application notice seeks that the application be determined at a hearing to be listed for 2 hours, this would, in my view, be a disproportionate use of court time and costs for dealing with the application (which asserts that the interim relief sought can be provided by the Defendant at insignificant cost). It appears from the evidence filed in support of the application that the main cost to the Defendant of providing the interim relief would be a small amount of additional cash allowance for the Claimant for the period of interim relief, likely to be less than 3 months. If that is right, then to determine the interim relief application at a hearing would cost the public purse much more than the financial value of the application – which would be a poor use of public funds.

  4. Accordingly, I am allowing a week from now for the Defendant to file and serve any written response (whether by way of submissions and/or witness evidence) to the interim relief application. I will then proceed to determine the interim relief application on the papers.

Signed: Deputy High Court Judge Alan Bates

Date order made: 4 November 2024