Claimants seeking to discharge a serious crime prevention order (SCPO) must have access to transcripts of the judge’s reasons, if necessary from the director of public prosecutions, a High Court judge has said.
Mrs Justice Farbey, sitting in Cardiff District Registry, dismissed an application from Jason Nicholas Juul for an order discharging an SCPO because of claimed changed circumstances.
Juul, who appeared by video from Russia where he now lives, is under an SCPO imposing restrictions including use of communication devices, email accounts, and acquistion of web domains and servers. It also includes notification of travel both within and outside the UK and of a change in circumstances.
Dismissing the claim, the judge said: ‘There is no reason to suppose that the order poses a disproportionate interference with article 8 rights or with any rights founded on common law. I do not consider that there has been a change of circumstances affecting the order. I decline to entertain the application.’
In a postscript, she said reasons for making the SCPO are important ‘as they mark the base line from which a change of circumstances will be assessed’.
She added: ‘The claimant should obtain a transcript of the judge’s reasons for imposing the order. If the claimant does not have the means or ability to do so, the director of public prosecutions should - as part of the Crown’s public interest duties - assist the court by obtaining a transcript and placing it before the court.
‘I was rather surprised that, in this case, the existence of the transcript ... was unknown to me until part way through the hearing, when the claimant told me that the CPS had sent him a copy.’
Farbey also noted that case management directions did not set out how the claimant attended the hearing and the directions which permitted Juul to appear by video did not mention which country he was permitted to appear from.
The judge said: ‘The court has a responsibility for ensuring that a party’s appearance by video link from abroad (if permitted at all) remains consistent with the interests of justice and the broader public interest.'
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