Quinn's (Dermot) Application v Criminal Cases Review Commission
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | McCloskey J |
| Judgment Date | 11 March 2020 |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] NIQB 24 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
| Date | 11 March 2020 |
1
Neutral Citation No: [2020] NIQB 24
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections
Ref: McC11144
Delivered: 11/03/20
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
_________
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION (JUDICIAL REVIEW)
________
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION BY DERMOT QUINN
FOR LEAVE TO APPLY FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW
-v-
CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW COMMISSION
________
Before: McCloskey LJ and Huddleston J
_________
INDEX
Subject Paragraph No/s
Introduction ………………………………………………… 1
Procedural Classification ………………………………….. 2 – 5
Chronology ……………………………………………….…. 6 – 7
Trial and Conviction of the Applicant …………………… 8 – 18
The Appeal …………………………………………………… 19 – 24
Report of the European Commission of Human Rights …. 25 – 27
The Commission’s First Determination (2002) …………….. 28 – 29
The 2002 Judicial Review ……………………………………. 30 – 31
Subsequent Jurisprudential Developments ……………….. 32
The Grand Chamber Decision in Salduz v Turkey……….. 33 – 36
2
The Decision in Cadder ……………………………………….. 37 – 40
The Grand Chamber Decision in Ibrahim ……………………. 41 – 46
The Grand Chamber Decision in Beuze v Belgium …………. 47 – 53
Challenging Commission Determinations: the
Legal Standard…………………………………………………….. 54 – 56
The Impugned Determination of the Commission ………….. 57 – 65
The Governing Principles Applied ……………………………. 66 – 82
Conclusion ………………………………………………………… 83
Glossary
“CMD”: Case Management Directions.
“The Commission”: Criminal Cases Review Commission.
“CCRC”: Criminal Cases Review Commission.
“The European Commission”: European Commission of Human Rights.
“ECHR”/”the Convention”: The European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms.
“ECtHR”: European Court of Human Rights.
“UKSC”: United Kingdom Supreme Court.
McCLOSKEY LJ (delivering the judgment of the court)
Introduction
[1] This judicial review challenge has proceeded by the so-called “rolled up”
procedural mechanism. Dermot Quinn (hereinafter “the applicant”) challenges the
decision of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (“the Commission”) whereby it
refused to exercise its statutory power to refer his conviction in respect of terrorist
offending in Northern Ireland to the Court of Appeal. While, following the hearing
conducted on 05 December 2019, the court proclaimed its decision on 19 December
2019, promulgation of its final judgment and order were deferred in the
circumstances elaborated below.
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Procedural Classification
[2] The question of whether these proceedings attract the “criminal cause or
matter” provisions of the Judicature (NI) Act 1978 (the “1978 Act”) was raised
proactively by the court at an early stage. The applicable provisions of the 1978 Act
are section 41(1), section 120 and Schedule 2. This elicited competing contentions on
behalf of the parties.
[3] This question arose in two recent decisions of the High Court, namely
Re McGuinness’ Application (No 1) [2019] NIQB 10 and Re McGuinness’ Application
(No 2) [2019] NIQB 76. In the first of these cases the decision impugned was that of
the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (the “Secretary of State”) referring a
prisoner’s case to the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland for consideration,
pursuant to Article 6(4)(a) of the Life Sentences (NI) Order 2001. In the second of
these cases, involving the same challenging party and the same prisoner, the High
Court determined that the criminal cause or matter provisions of the 1978 Act did
not apply to decisions made by the Sentence Review Commissioners under a
different statutory regime, namely the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998,
notwithstanding the recognition of “multiple criminal justice trappings”: see [38] – [40]
and [45].
[4] In McGuinness No 1, following certification by the High Court under section
41 of and Schedule 2 to the 1978 Act and the ensuing grant of leave to appeal by the
Supreme Court, the criminal cause or matter characterisation of those proceedings
became an issue in consequence of an intervention by the Attorney General for
Northern Ireland (“AGNI”). A matter of choreography arose, given that the Supreme
Court heard the appeal in McGuinness No 1 on 16 October 2019 and the hearing of
the present case occurred on 04 December 2019. While the parties were informed of
the court’s decision on 20 December 2019, the court determined to postpone
promulgation of its final, substantive judgment and order until the decision of the
Supreme Court had been made available.
[5] The Supreme Court promulgated its decision in Re McGuinness No 1 on 19
February 2020: see [2020] UKSC 6. The effect of that decision is that the instant case is
not a criminal cause or matter.
Chronology
[6] We gratefully adopt the following chronology of material dates and events
agreed between the parties.
13 April 1988 Incident giving rise to applicant’s conviction
13 April 1988 Applicant stopped by RUC – applicant arrested after stating that
he had been picking mushrooms at a friend’s property and that
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