McQuillan, Re Application for Judicial Review
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Lord Hamblen,Lord Leggatt,Lord Burrows,Lord Kitchin,Lord Hodge,Lord Sales,Lord Lloyd-Jones |
| Judgment Date | 15 December 2021 |
| Neutral Citation | [2021] UKSC 55 |
| Year | 2021 |
| Court | Supreme Court |
[2021] UKSC 55
Lord Hodge, Deputy President
Lord Lloyd-Jones
Lord Kitchin
Lord Sales
Lord Hamblen
Lord Leggatt
Lord Burrows
Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Tony McGleenan QC
Paul McLaughlin QC
Laura Curran
(Instructed by Crown Solicitor's Office (Belfast))
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Sir James Eadie QC
Jason Pobjoy
Ben Thompson
(Instructed by Crown Solicitor's Office (Belfast))
Department of Justice
Peter Coll QC
Philip McAteer
(Instructed by Departmental Solicitor's Office (Belfast))
Margaret McQuillan
Hugh Southey QC
Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh
(Instructed by Kinnear & Co Solicitors (Belfast))
Francis McGuigan
Hugh Southey QC
Adam Straw QC
Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh
(Instructed by Phoenix Law (Belfast))
Mary McKenna
Karen Quinlivan QC
Professor Gordon Anthony
(Instructed by Committee on the Administration of Justice (Belfast))
Intervener (Amnesty International (UK))
Monye Anyadike-Danes QC
Jude Bunting
(Instructed by Phoenix Law (Belfast))
Margaret McQuillan (Nos 1, 2 and 3)
Appellants:
(1) Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland
(2) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
(3) Department of Justice
Respondent:
(1) Margaret McQuillan
Francis McGuigan (Nos 1, 2 and 3) and Mary McKenna (Nos 1 and 2)
Appellants/Cross-Respondents:
(1) Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland
(2) Department of Justice
Respondents/Cross-Appellants:
(1) Francis McGuigan
(2) Mary McKenna
Cross-Respondent:
(1) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Heard on 14, 15 and 16 June 2021
Lord Hodge, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales AND( with whom Lord Kitchin, Lord Hamblen and Lord Burrows agree)
These appeals from the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland are concerned with distressing events which occurred in the province in 1971 and 1972 at a particularly horrible and murderous period of “the Troubles”.
One appeal relates to the tragic death by shooting of Ms Jean Smyth on 8 June 1972. It arises in an application by the respondent, Margaret McQuillan, who is Ms Smyth's sister, who seeks judicial review of among other things the failure of the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (“PSNI”) and others to ensure the prompt, independent, and effective investigation of her sister's murder. In that application Ms McQuillan has sought a declaration that the PSNI is insufficiently independent to conduct such an investigation.
The other appeal relates to the very serious ill-treatment by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (“RUC”) in August 1971 of people who were detained by the security forces for interrogation. Fourteen men, who have become known as the Hooded Men and who included Francis McGuigan and Séan McKenna, were subjected to this unacceptable treatment. Mr McGuigan and Mary McKenna, the daughter of the late Séan McKenna, seek judicial review of the decision made by the PSNI that there was no evidence to warrant an investigation, compliant with articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”), into the allegation that the UK Government authorised and used torture in Northern Ireland in the case of the Hooded Men.
Two principal issues concerning human rights are raised on these appeals. The first is whether the domestic obligation on the UK Government to investigate a death or allegation of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment under articles 2 and 3 of the Convention, which arises as a result of the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 (“ HRA”) on 2 October 2000, requires there to be a “genuine connection”, including a close temporal connection, between the death or ill-treatment and the coming into force of the HRA. This question is in essence a matter of statutory interpretation, in which the Court must ascertain the meaning of the HRA. The second principal question is concerned with the tests by which the courts must assess the independence of investigations carried out or to be carried out by the PSNI into deaths in the Troubles and the ill-treatment of the Hooded Men.
This judgment is structured as follows:
(i) The factual background to Ms McQuillan's application for judicial review (paras 6–32).
(ii) The arrangements made to investigate deaths and ill-treatment arising during the Troubles (paras 33–51).
(iii) An overview of the Convention issues raised in these appeals (paras 52–54).
(iv) The judgments of the courts below in Ms McQuillan's application for judicial review (paras 55–71).
(v) The factual background to the application for judicial review by Mr McGuigan and Ms McKenna (paras 72–100).
(vi) The judgments of the courts below in the applications for judicial review by Mr McGuigan and Ms McKenna (paras 101–108).
(vii) The obligation to investigate under articles 2 and 3 of the Convention (paras 109–111).
(viii) The trigger for a further investigation: Brecknell v United Kingdom (2008) 46 EHRR 42 (paras 112–132).
(ix) The genuine connection and Convention values tests in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Strasbourg Court”) (paras 133–168).
(x) Whether there is an obligation under article 2 or article 3 to investigate the death of Ms Smyth and the authorisation of the treatment of the Hooded Men (paras 169–192).
(xi) The Convention requirements for an independent investigation under articles 2 and 3 (paras 193–200).
(xii) Whether an investigation by the PSNI into Ms Smyth's death would be an independent and effective investigation and whether any findings on that question can be read across into any investigation relating to the Hooded Men (paras 201–214).
(xiii) Other domestic law challenges: (i) Whether there is an obligation of investigation at common law or under section 32 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, (ii) whether the Chief Constable created a legitimate expectation of an investigation into the persons responsible for authorising the treatment of Mr McGuigan and Mr McKenna, (iii) whether the decision of the PSNI on 17 October 2014 not to investigate further was irrational and should be quashed (paras 215–252).
(xiv) The question of delay (paras 253–255).
(xv) Summary and conclusions (paras 256–257).
In 1972, Jean Smyth was 24 years old. She was estranged from her husband and living with her daughter at her parents' home in Tardree Park, West Belfast. On the evening of 8 June 1972, she went for a drink with a work colleague and friend, John Carlin. Mr Carlin collected her in his car, and they went to a pub on the Glen Road, the Glenowen Inn, where they met up with some other work colleagues.
At the end of the night, Mr Carlin offered one of those colleagues a lift home to the Lenadoon Estate, from where he drove back onto the Glen Road. Ms Smyth was sitting in the front passenger seat. At approximately 11.30pm, Mr Carlin thought he heard a noise which sounded like a tyre bursting and he got out of the car to look around. When he returned to the car, he found Ms Smyth lying in a prone position in the car, having been shot in the head.
Mr Carlin flagged down a passing black taxi, driven by James Brown. With the help of others who arrived at the scene, Ms Smyth was transferred to the taxi which left the scene, intending, it appears, to take her to the Royal Victoria Hospital (“RVH”). In the event, the taxi was driven to Andersonstown police station, which was on the route to the RVH. It is probable that by the time of the taxi's arrival at the station, if not before, Ms Smyth had died.
Meanwhile, Mr Carlin drove his car to the home of Ms Smyth's family. There, he spoke to her father, Mr Campbell and they left in Mr Carlin's car to go to the RVH. They travelled directly as they were unaware that the taxi had stopped at Andersonstown police station. It appears that the taxi remained at the police station for some time.
When his taxi had been flagged down, Mr Brown's wife had been in the taxi, and she was in shock. Once he knew that Ms Smyth was dead, Mr Brown left the police station to take his wife to the RVH for treatment, where he met Mr Carlin and Mr Campbell. Mr Brown explained to them that he believed Ms Smyth was probably already dead when she had been transferred to his taxi at the scene.
No person has ever been arrested or prosecuted in respect of Jean Smyth's death.
Following Ms Smyth's death, the RUC opened a criminal investigation. Witness statements were taken from Mr Carlin, Mr Brown, Mr Campbell, Mr Desmond Smyth (Ms Smyth's husband who identified her body) and a number of police witnesses.
The police statements included a number of statements from Scenes of Crime officers (“SOCO”), who had examined Mr Carlin's car in the grounds of the RVH and Mr Brown's taxi, which contained Ms Smyth's body, at Andersonstown police station. Mr Carlin's car was again examined at Springfield Road police station. The SOCO statements recorded the opinion that Ms Smyth was killed by a bullet which entered the car through the rear off-side window and travelled at an angle towards the front passenger seat, striking Ms Smyth on the head. The SOCO statements further recorded that no other holes or bullet strike marks were found on the car. A number of photos of Mr Carlin's car were before the...
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