Met photos breached human rights

A police decision to retain photographs of two crime suspects who were never charged has been declared a breach of human rights in a landmark High Court ruling.

Two judges ruled as "unlawful" the Metropolitan Police policy on custody photographs, which is based on the Home Secretary's code of practice on the management of police information and related guidance.

The ruling was won by two applicants referred to as RMC and FJ, who must not be identified for legal reasons.

RMC is a 60-year-woman from Chelsea, who five years ago was arrested on suspicion of assault and had DNA samples, fingerprints and photographs taken.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge her with assaulting a community support officer who had stopped her riding a cycle on a footpath, but the Metropolitan Police refused the "distressed" woman's request to destroy her records.

In the second case, FJ, a 12-year-old boy from Peckham, was arrested on suspicion of rape of his second cousin after voluntarily attending a police station for questioning in April 2009. No charges were brought after a third party witness did not confirm an offence had taken place.

During the arrest DNA was taken from FJ, now 15, along with fingerprints and photographs. The Met refused a request to destroy the material and also retained a record of his arrest and other information on the police national computer (PNC).

On Friday, Lord Justice Richards, sitting at London's High Court with Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, said: "I am not satisfied that the existing (police) policy strikes a fair balance between the competing public and private interests and meets the requirements of proportionality.

"In my judgment, therefore, the retention of the claimants' photographs in application of the existing policy amounts to an unjustified interference with their right to respect for their private life and is in breach of Article 8 (of the human rights convention).

But the judges ruled police retention of FJ's PNC record was justified and only a "small and plainly proportionate" interference with his Article 8 rights.

Bellfield articles 'prejudicial'

Two national newspapers published "seriously prejudicial" articles after a killer's conviction for the abduction and murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the High Court has heard.

Stories in the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror were part of an "avalanche" of adverse publicity which followed the guilty verdicts against Levi Bellfield - while jurors were still deliberating another charge against him, two judges in London were told.

Sir John Thomas and Mr Justice Tugendhat heard at the start of contempt of court proceedings brought against the two papers by the Attorney General that, as a result of the "totality" of the publicity, the Old Bailey jury was discharged from returning a verdict on that count.

The charge alleged that the day before Bellfield snatched Milly from a street in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in 2002, he attempted to abduct Rachel Cowles, then aged 11.

David Perry QC, for Attorney General Dominic Grieve, told the judges: "The court heard evidence both from Rachel Cowles and her mother, and the seriousness of the attempted kidnap allegedly committed against Miss Cowles, bearing in mind what happened to Milly Dowler the following day, does not need elaborating.

"However, as a result of the totality of the adverse publicity ... the jury were discharged from returning a verdict in relation to the allegation of attempted kidnap."

Opening the Attorney General's case against the Mail and the Mirror, Mr Perry said: "Each of these national newspapers published seriously prejudicial material after a jury had retired to consider its verdicts, but before the jury had concluded its deliberations, on a count of attempted kidnap in a high-profile criminal trial, namely the trial of Levi Bellfield."

Bellfield, who was previously convicted in 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, was found guilty on June 23 last year of Milly's murder.

Mr Perry said that following the guilty verdicts in the Milly case there was "extensive media coverage" in print, television and online.

The Attorney General considered that the articles in the Mirror and the Mail were "given particular prominence" and "clearly and in themselves gave rise to a substantial risk that the course of justice would be seriously impeded".

The newspapers are contesting the action and argue that their publications would not have created a substantial risk of serious prejudice.

©Press Association

'Dither and delay' warning on HS2

High speed rail between London and Birmingham might not be achieved in the 2020s because of "endless dither and delay" by the Government, former transport secretary Lord Adonis has warned.

The Labour peer said plans to get HS2 on to the statute book by the end of this parliament could fall victim to wrangling between the coalition parties ahead of the next general election, scheduled for 2015.

The highly-controversial £33 billion network was given the go ahead in January, with a line between London and Birmingham expected to open by 2026.

Urging Prime Minister David Cameron to get a grip on the issue, Lord Adonis said: "If infrastructure projects are going to happen they need someone who is going to drive them forward, and that simply isn't present.

"We are already on the second transport secretary since the election, the Transport Department has had three permanent secretaries in the last two years. There has been endless dither and delay."

Lord Adonis, an architect of the high speed rail plan in the last Labour government, said there were delays to the consultation on compensation for householders affected by the project and in publishing the route north of Birmingham.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think there is now a very good chance that the legislation won't pass in this parliament. It could well get caught up in all the politics leading up to the next election, which I think given the state of the coalition could lead to a very significant further delay and it means that we may not see HS2 now in the 2020s."

Transport Minister Theresa Villiers insisted the project would be delivered "as swiftly as possible" but the Government would "not be rushed".

"This is a major project which will have a significant impact on the future of the country and it is imperative that we get it right.

"We will ensure it is delivered as swiftly as possible but we will not be rushed - all relevant evidence needs to be properly considered, including the views of communities potentially affected by the line, and we will be doing this within the timeframe we set out soon after the Coalition entered Government."

©Press Association