Philpot (claimant/appellant) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis (defendant/respondent)

Thursday 19 January 2023

The claimant appeals Lang J.’s Order of 19 July 2022 by which she dismissed the Appellant’s claim for judicial review on grounds 2 and 3, declared that the Respondent could lawfully have imposed the restrictions upon the Applicant’s private life contained in the decision of 20 October 2020 under regulation 6 of the Police Regulations 2003 as a proportionate interference with the Applicant’s Article 8 rights, refused relief on Ground 1 – 4 pursuant to section 31(2A) of he Senior Court Act 1981, and made no order for costs.

It is said that the fundamental point in issue is whether a chief constable has power to impose restrictions on an officer’s private life (in this case ‘Restriction 3’: a prohibition on contacting his wife in the context of a professional discipline investigation – but the power divined in the judgment being of a much wider general scope).

View hearing:

Part 1

Part 2