Identity Theft in UK Law

First, I reject Ms Proops' argument that the disclosure on the web of the payroll data was disconnected by time, place and nature from Skelton's employment. I find, rather, that as Mr Barnes submitted there was an unbroken thread that linked his work to the disclosure: what happened was a seamless and continuous sequence of events.

Second, I find that Morrisons deliberately entrusted Skelton with the payroll data. It was not merely something to which work gave him access: dealing with the data was a task specifically assigned to him. Associated with this, I find that in his role with Morrisons, day in and day out, he was in receipt of information which was confidential or to have limited circulation only: and he was appointed on the basis that this would happen, and he could be trusted to deal with it safely.

They do not leave to the court the task of some vague or broader evaluation of what is just. Nor is the bar a general provision requiring the court to form a view directly on which is the more suitable forum, let alone having regard to sentencing policy or the potential for prisoner transfer, save to the extent that one of the listed factors might in any particular case require consideration of it.

The true approach is more simply expressed by requiring the appellate court to decide whether the decision of the district judge was wrong. The appellate court is entitled to stand back and say that a question ought to have been decided differently because the overall evaluation was wrong: crucial factors should have been weighed so significantly differently as to make the decision wrong, such that the appeal in consequence should be allowed.

It is said, in effect, that their acts are necessarily the company's acts; that their will, knowledge, and belief are those of the company; and that their consent necessarily implies consent by the company. It is for this reason that in such cases there can be no conspiracy between the directors and shareholders on the one hand and the company on the other: R. v. McDonnell (1966) 1 QB 233 (C.A.).

Mr. Jones was not able to show me any precedent for the Court intervening to, in effect, close down an ongoing investigation on the basis that there was no prospect of a prosecution eventuating. That does not mean that such relief could never be granted, but it reinforces my own view that it will only be appropriate, if at all, in the most exceptional cases.

In my judgment, the only applicable test is that “it must be possible to say of any particular person whether or not they qualify for membership of the represented class of persons by virtue of having” the same interest as Mr Lloyd “[a]t all stages of the proceedings, and not just at the date of judgment”. It has repeatedly been said that the number of claimants cannot itself affect the ability to use the representative procedure.