R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Mellor
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 04 April 2001 |
| Date | 04 April 2001 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Peter Gibson and Lord Justice Latham.
Prisoners - no right of access to artificial insemination facilities
A prisoner who wished to start a family with his wife had no right to access to facilities for artificial insemination in the absence of exceptional circumstances.
The Court of Appeal so held, dismissing the appeal of the applicant, Gavin Mellor, against the refusal of Mr Justice Forbes (The Times September 5, 2000) to grant judicial review of the refusal on November 3, 1998 by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to give permission for access by Mr Mellor to facilities for artificial insemination.
Mr David Pannick, QC and Ms Flo Krause for Mr Mellor; Miss Dinah Rose for the secretary of state.
THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS said that Mr Mellor was born on April 4, 1971. In February 1995 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The tariff element of his sentence was due to expire in 2006 by which time he would be 35.
In January 1997 while a prisoner at Gartree Prison he met and formed a relationship with Tracey McColl, a member of the prison staff. He was subsequently transferred to other prisons, and Miss McColl resigned from the prison service.
In July 1997 Mr Mellor and Miss McColl were married in prison. Mrs Mellor would be 31 when Mr Mellor's tariff expired in 2006. Mr Mellor was very unlikely to be in a position to be granted temporary release by the Parole Board prior to mid-2004.
In August 1997, Mr Mellor asked for permission to be allowed to inseminate his wife artificially. Mrs Mellor fully supported her husband's request.
The secretary of state refused the request on the ground that there was no medical need for artificial insemination and concern about the stability of the Mellors' relationship which had not been tested under normal circumstances.
It was prison service policy that the grant of facilities for artificial insemination for prisoners and their partners was made only in exceptional circumstances.
Subject to the possibility of an earlier temporary release it was accepted that, as a mandatory life prisoner, Mr Mellor would only be released on life licence after his tariff of 12 years, set by the secretary of state, had expired and if the Parole Board recommended that he was safe to...
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