R (Howden) v The Secretary of State for Justice
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Judge Langan |
| Judgment Date | 15 October 2010 |
| Neutral Citation | [2010] EWHC 2521 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Docket Number | CO/8197/2010,Case No: CO/8197/2010 |
| Date | 15 October 2010 |
[2010] EWHC 2521 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT SITTING AT LEEDS
Leeds Combined Court Centre
1 Oxford Row, Leeds LS1 2BG
Before: His Honour Judge Langan QC
Case No: CO/8197/2010
Mr Matthew Stanbury (instructed by Grayson Willis Bennett, Sheffield) for the claimant
Mr Sam Karim (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the defendant
The interested party was not present or represented at the hearing
Hearing date: 11 October 2010
Judge Langan:
Introduction
. The claimant, who was and is a serving prisoner, was released on licence on 10 May 2010. On 28 May 2010, on the basis of police intelligence relating to the claimant's conduct since his release, the defendant, who is the Secretary of State for Justice, revoked the licence and the claimant was recalled to prison. That decision is the subject of challenge in these proceedings. Counsel have agreed that the issue for decision is whether, in what has to be regarded as a non-urgent situation, the defendant was entitled to accept the police intelligence at face value without making further enquiries.
Narrative
. The claimant was born on 13 December 1990 and is accordingly 19 years old.
. Prior to the claimant's being convicted of the offences to which I will refer in the next paragraph, he had received warnings from the police in respect of burglary of a boarded-up property and for taking a vehicle without the owner's consent. He had been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences, including attempted murder, but these arrests had not been followed by any prosecution.
. On 17 October 2008, at Sheffield Crown Court, the claimant was sentenced to a total term of 54 months detention in a young offenders institution for offences which included wounding contrary to section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence contrary to section 16A of the Firearms Act 1968. In the course of committing these offences, which were committed on 2 February 2008, the claimant had punched the victim, who was female, and had discharged a shotgun at the door of her home.
. On 10 May 2008 the claimant was released on licence. His licence conditions included the standard condition to be well behaved, not commit any offence, and not do anything which could undermine the purposes of his supervision; and a specific condition which required residence at an address in the Parsons Cross area of Sheffield. The claimant was placed under the supervision of South Yorkshire Probation Service. His offender manager was Ms Clare Lupton.
. On 26 May 2010 Ms Lupton received a telephone call from South Yorkshire Police in which they informed her of recent intelligence relating to the claimant. This was to the effect that, since his release, the claimant had been involved in supplying cocaine and had assaulted, and threatened to shoot, another person. Ms Lupton was informed by Detective Sergeant Anthony Slater that information had come from two different sources, but that the information about the drugs was not specific enough and that the victim of the alleged assault was not willing to make a complaint to the police. As an interim measure, the Probation Service decided to move the claimant from Parsons Cross to approved premises in Rotherham, and this was done on 26 May. That was also the day of a prearranged meeting between the claimant and Ms Lupton. In the course of that meeting, he admitted that he had been associating with known drug dealers.
. It is for the Probation Service to initiate the recall process and for the defendant to decide whether to order recall. The decision is taken on behalf of the defendant by the Public Protection Casework Section of the Public Protection Unit at the Ministry of Justice.
. On 28 May 2010 South Yorkshire Probation Service recommended the recall of the claimant to custody. The material sent by the Probation Service to the defendant consisted of the following. (1) A Request for Recall Report, with which I shall deal in the next paragraph. (2) The Police National Computer print-out of the claimant's convictions. (3) The Pre-Sentence Report which had been prepared for Sheffield Crown Court, which included the information that the offences had been “committed as part of a group action.” (4) A witness statement from Detective Sergeant Slater, in which he said that the intelligence which the police had received was believed to be credible. (5) An e-mail from Acting Detective Chief Inspector Bob Chapman, stating that he fully supported Sergeant Slater's statement. (6) The most recent OASys report on the claimant. This had been completed on 10 May 2010, and assessed the level...
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