Sweeney v Westminster Magistrates Court & Anor
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE PITCHFORD AND MRS JUSTICE NICOLA DAVIES DBE
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Administrative Law
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The claimant challenged the legality of a search warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates Court used to search his business premises and home in connection with allegations of illegal waste activities and money laundering. The application for the warrant was found to lack detailed Information on the statutory requirements, the offenses, and identification of the materials sought. The court concluded that the warrant was unlawful, failing to comply with sections 8 and 15 of PACE, and quashed the warrant, declaring the search and seizure unlawful.
Judgment
Mrs Justice Nicola Davies
The claimant challenges the lawfulness of a search warrant issued by the first defendant, the Westminster Magistrates Court, on 10 May 2013. Detective Constable Mary Allen from the Regional Asset Recovery Team (“RART”), the second defendant, applied pursuant to section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (“ PACE ”) on behalf of the Environment Agency (“EA”) the interested party, to enter and search the claimant’s premises. The premises included the business premises at Trout Lane Depot, Middlesex (“The Site”), a waste transfer and recycling station operated by Ethos Green Ltd, together with the home of the claimant in Iver. Contained within the warrant was the identified purpose of the search. Set out in a schedule were the names of six individuals together with their home addresses plus the name and address of a firm of accountants, all premises were the subject of the warrant. Some of the individuals have been joined as interested parties in these proceedings. For the purpose of this application they have played no real part.
The ex-parte application for the warrant was made to Justices sitting in camera at Westminster Magistrates Court. No information was provided to the court in advance of the application. The written Information was given to the court, the application took 15 minutes. No contemporaneous record of the proceedings was made, neither the court nor DC Allen made any notes. DC Allen stated that she had no memory of what, if any, questions were asked of her. No written reasons were provided by the Justices as to the grant of the warrant. In a letter dated 8 August 2013, the legal team manager of the court stated that “The Magistrates were satisfied on the strength of the information that there were reasonable grounds to believe that PACE section 8 (1) (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) were met. Further that without the grant of a warrant section 8 (3) (a), (c) and (d) applied. Their view was that the detailed summary provided by the applicant clearly addressed the necessary matters and gave compelling grounds for belief.”
On 16 May 2013 the warrant was executed at a number of premises. Officers accompanied by a film crew, executed the search warrant at the Site. The claimant declined to grant access to the film crew but showed the officers around the building and depot in order to identify any potential hazards. A search of the office block commenced at 7.15 a.m. and concluded at 10.30 p.m. Document