Amilton Nicholas Bento (Respondent/Claimant) v The Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police (Appellant /Defendant)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Judge | Lord Justice Moore-Bick |
| Judgment Date | 26 March 2012 |
| Neutral Citation | [2012] EWCA Civ 442 |
| Date | 26 March 2012 |
| Docket Number | Case No: A2/2012/0463 |
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
MR JUSTICE TUGENDHAT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Moore-Bick
Case No: A2/2012/0463
Mr Richard Rampton QC and Ms Catrin Evans (instructed by Berrymans Lace Mawer) appeared on behalf of the Appellant.
The Respondent did not appear and was not represented.
(Approved by the court)
This is a renewed application for permission to appeal following refusal on paper by Sir Richard Buxton.
The background to the proceedings which have given rise to the application are somewhat unusual. In December 2005 a young Polish woman, Kamila Garsztka, who lived at Bedford, went missing. In January 2006 her body was found in Priory Lake. Her boyfriend, the respondent to this application but the claimant in the proceedings, Mr Bento, was prosecuted and in due course convicted of her murder in July 2007, but that conviction was quashed on appeal in February 2009.
A retrial was ordered, but the Crown Prosecution Service eventually concluded that the evidence was not sufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction and decided not to pursue the case. As a result, at the retrial the prosecution offered no evidence against the respondent and he was acquitted.
On 9 July 2009 the media office of the Bedfordshire Police published a press release which is alleged to be defamatory of the respondent, inasmuch as it is said to imply that he murdered Ms Garsztka. On 6 March 2010 he commenced proceedings against the Chief Constable for libel. In his defence the Chief Constable has alleged first, that the words used in the press release do not bear the meaning alleged; second, that the publication attracts qualified privilege; and third, justification, inasmuch as he says the natural meaning of the press release was that the decision of the CPS to discontinue the prosecution was wrong and that the respondent remained the prime suspect for the murder.
On 7 February 2011 Master Fontaine ordered by consent that the trial be by judge and jury, subject to the right of either party to apply for trial by judge alone. However, since the parties had not applied for a jury trial within the time prescribed by the Civil Procedure Rules it is now accepted by all concerned that the court had no power to make that order, by consent or otherwise.
On 6 February 2012 the matter came before Tugendhat J for directions, including directions as to the mode of trial. In the circumstances as they then existed it was agreed that it was for the judge to exercise his discretion under Section 69(3) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 whether to direct trial by judge alone or trial by judge and jury. Tugendhat J directed that there by trial by judge alone, although he did so with "considerable hesitation". The judge directed himself that when the court is required to exercise its discretion under Section 69(3) there is a presumption in favour of trial by judge alone, and that is not contested. He noted that one of the parties is a public authority, in this case the police, which would normally make it a stronger case for a...
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...a disputed debt is not a high one: per Etherton LJ, as he then was, in Tallington Lakes Limited v South Keveten District Council [2012] EWCA Civ 442; (c) Whether a debt is disputed on substantial grounds is a question of judgement based on the facts of each case: Re Alloy Company Ltd [2015......
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Titan Petrochemicals Group Ltd v Sino Charm International Ltd
...a disputed debt is not a high one: per Etherton LJ, as he then was, in Tallington Lakes Limited v South Keveten District Council[2012] EWCA Civ 442; (c) Whether a debt is disputed on substantial grounds is a question of judgement based on the facts of each case: Re Alloy Company Ltd[2015] B......