LMV and others -v- The Chief Constable of Kent and the Chief Constable of Norfolk

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2026-LON-003638

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

6 August 2026

Before:

The Hon. Mr Justice Morris

Between:

The King
on the application of
(1) LMV
(2) ZK (a child)
(3) ZM (a child)
(by their litigation friend, LMV)
(Claimants)

-v-

(1) The Chief Constable of Kent
(2) The Chief Constable of Norfolk
(Defendants)

and

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent
(Interested Party)

Order

On an application by the Claimant for urgent consideration

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant

ORDER by the Hon. Mr Justice Morris

  1. The Defendants shall, by no later than 4pm on Thursday 13 August 2026, file and serve a response to the Claimants’ application for interim relief.
  2. Thereafter the application for interim relief is to be placed before a judge, for consideration, initially on the papers
  3. Liberty to the parties to apply to vary the terms of this order.
  4. Costs reserved.
  5. (Anonymity) Until further order:

(a) 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 Claimants’ names are to be withheld from the public and must not be disclosed in any proceedings in public; and

(ii) the Claimants are to be referred to orally and in writing as LMV, ZK and ZM.

(b) Pursuant to s. 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, there must be no publication of the identity of the Claimants or of any matter likely to lead to the identification of the Claimants in any report of, or otherwise in connection with, these proceedings.

(c) Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):

(i) the parties must within 7 days file and serve a redacted copy of any statement of case already filed, omitting the name, address and any other information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimants;

(ii) if any statement of case subsequently filed includes information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimants, a redacted copy omitting that information must be filed at the same time and must then be served with the unredacted version;

(iii) unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non- party many obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case.

(d) Any person wishing to vary or discharge this Order must make an application, served on each party.

REASONS

By way of interim relief, the First Claimant is seeking an urgent order to prevent the Defendants from examining her phone and the preservation of certain records. She appears also to be seeking other matters by way of interim relief, although it is not clear to me that these are appropriate matters for urgent interim relief.

This appears to be part of a long running dispute between the parties and I am not persuaded that the matter is so urgent that an immediate order should be made, without hearing from the Defendants.

The Defendants should therefore be given an opportunity to respond to the application before it is considered further by a judge.

I am not clear of the basis for the anonymity order (nor for the joinder of second and third claimants to the proceedings). I have made an anonymity order for the time being, solely to preserve the position. These are matters for further consideration by the judge on the papers.

Signed: Mr Justice Morris

Dated: 6 August 2026