JR245 Application
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | McFarland J |
| Neutral Citation | [2023] NIKB 32 |
| Date | 16 March 2023 |
| Court | King's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
1
Neutral Citation No: [2023] NIKB 32
Judgment: approved by the court for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections)*
Ref: McF12104
ICOS No: 22/093740
Delivered: 16/03/2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
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KING’S BENCH DIVISION
(JUDICIAL REVIEW)
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IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION BY JR245
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Mr R Lavery KC with Mr A Higgins (instructed by Terence McCourt Solicitors) for the
Applicant
Mr A Montgomery (instructed by the Directorate of Legal Services) for the Respondents,
the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Department of Health
___________
McFARLAND J
Introduction
[1] In October 2022 the applicant, who is 13 years of age, was in the care of the
Trust (under a care order granted in 2014) and had been placed in a residential home
in the Belfast area. On 17 October 2022 he was arrested in respect of offences that
were alleged to have occurred within that home, namely four common assaults, two
offences of criminal damage, a sexual assault and an indecent exposure, the victims
of his alleged conduct being Trust staff.
[2] There was a delay in obtaining a registered intermediary to facilitate the
interview of the applicant and the applicant was not charged until 18 October 2023,
and then produced before Belfast Youth Court on 19 October 2023. At that hearing
bail was granted with a condition that the applicant reside at an address to be
approved by the police. The difficulty in this case was that the Trust indicated that it
would provide suitable accommodation for the applicant, but it was back in the
residential home from which he had been removed on arrest and where the alleged
victims of his conduct worked. The police would not approve this address as a
suitable one.
[3] In the circumstances bail could not be perfected and the applicant was
remanded into, and remained in, custody. Although it was likely that the applicant
met the criteria for a secure accommodation order (see Article 4 4(2)(b) of the
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