HM -v- Leicester City Council (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case number: AC-2025-BHM-000407

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

6 January 2026

Before:

HHJ Tindal
(sitting as a Judge of the High Court)

Between:

The King
on the application of
HM

-v-

Leicester City Council

Order

Notification of the Judge’s decision on the application for expedition

After consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant

ORDER by HHJ Tindal (Sitting as a Judge of the High Court)

  1. Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4)) and the Court’s inherent jurisdiction:
    a. No person shall identify the Claimant in connection with these proceedings. The Claimant shall be referred to as HM.
    b. A non-party may not obtain or inspect a copy of any Statement of Case or any other document filed with the Court and to which a non-party may have access pursuant to CPR 5.4A-D or otherwise, unless it has been produced or edited so as to comply with para.1 of this Order and/or any subsequent direction made by the Court.
    c. Anyone affected by the terms of this Order shall have permission to apply to vary or set aside any part of it, on 3 working days’ notice to the Claimant’s solicitors.
  2. The need for a Litigation Friend is dispensed with under CPR 21.2(3).
  3. Time for the Defendant to file an Acknowledgement of Service is extended to 4pm on 19th January 2026.
  4. Time for the Claimant to file any Reply is extended to 26th January 2026.
  5. The Claimant’s application for interim relief is adjourned until permission.
  6. Costs in the Case

Reasons

This claim of 16th December 2025 challenges the Defendant’s decision of 16th October 2025 to refuse to re-assess the Claimant’s age. He is an Afghan national who claims to be a child and arrived in the UK in July 2023 seeking asylum as a child, but in June/July 2024 was assessed by the Defendant as being an adult. The Claimant now relies on expert evidence that his Afghan identity document from 2018 describing him as aged 10 is genuine. I will grant the Claimant’s applications for anonymity and expedition (and although I have not seen this application), given even on his own case he is very nearly an adult, I will dispense with a Litigation Friend. However, since the reasoning in the challenged decision seems to me to have considerable force, I cannot say at present there is even a serious issue to be tried to justify interim relief (c.f. Derby CC v UYR [2025] EWCA Civ 1648). However, I am prepared to reconsider that after the Acknowledgement of Service and Reply.  

Signed HHJ Tindal