2022

Cases Reported

R v Shanice Atkinson	1
Issue: Whether a defendant detained under s2 Mental Health Act 1983 who pleaded guilty to assaults and criminal damage in hospital should have been allowed to re-open the pleas to raise self-defence; whether the convictions were safe.

R v Brennan McGinley and Connor Leo Morris (AG’s Reference under s36 Criminal Justice Act 1988)	8
Issue: Whether sentences for serious offending, including wounding with intent, were unduly lenient, one of the offenders having several mental health problems and both being assessed to pose a high risk to the public.

R v Michael Charlton	12
Issue: Whether adequate credit had been given for the mental disorder of a defendant who admitted a robbery with an imitation firearm.

R v Francis Junior Wellington (AG’s Reference No 1 of 2021 under s36 Criminal Justice Act 1988)	15
Issue: Whether a sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment for various offences, including drugs offending that presumptively required a sentence of 7 years, by an offender with a mental illness that arose from substance abuse was unduly lenient.

R v Bernard Rebelo	22
Issue: Whether a conviction for gross negligence manslaughter for supplying unsafe weight loss supplements that led to the death of a young woman with body dysmorphia who overdosed on them was safe; the correct direction on causation in the context of supplying such supplements to a person with mental health conditions.

R (Worcestershire County Council) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care	33
Issue: If a person who had been detained under s3 Mental Health Act 1983 was placed in a different area as part of an after-care package provided for them under s117 of the 1983 Act, did that change their ordinary residence and who was responsible for after-care services if they were again detained and then discharged and left hospital?

R (Worcestershire County Council) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care	57
Issue: If a person who had been detained under s3 Mental Health Act 1983 was placed in a different area as part of an after-care package provided for them under s117 of the 1983 Act, did that change their ordinary residence and who was responsible for after-care services if they were again detained and then discharged and left hospital?

DA v (1) Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust and (2) Secretary of State for Justice	72
Issue: Whether a decision not to grant an absolute discharge to a conditionally discharged restricted patient was rational, proportionate and adequately reasoned.

Strøbye and Rosenlind v Denmark	79
Issue: Whether the disenfranchisement of people made subject to guardianship and also deprived of legal capacity breached the right to vote in P1 Art 3 ECHR; whether it also breached non-discrimination standards.

Caamaño Valle v Spain	100
Issue: Whether former legislation permitting a judge to remove the right to vote from an adult person found to be without capacity and so in need of guardianship breached the right to vote in P1 Art 3 ECHR; whether it also breached non-discrimination standards.

Anatoliy Marinov v Bulgaria	121
Issue: Whether the disenfranchisement of a person made subject to partial guardianship on the basis of mental disorder breached the right to vote in P1 Art 3 ECHR.

Mário Jorge Alves Sequeira v Portugal	130
Issue: Whether a friendly settlement for breaches of Arts 3, 5(1)(e), 8 and 13 ECHR arising from the absence of treatment for psychiatric issues and detention in a prison far away from family was based on respect for human rights.

Clarissa Ihenacho v LB Croydon	131
Issue: Whether fresh evidence as to unfitness to stand trial in confiscation proceedings should be admitted on appeal; whether the appellant was able to demonstrate that she had been unfit at the time.

Adrian Jones (Deceased) v R	140
Issue: Whether evidence relating the possibility that a defendant killed with diminished responsibility should be admitted on appeal.

R v AAI	146
Issue: Whether a sentence of 4 years’ detention for a youth with mental disorder and consequent vulnerability who committed an offence of wounding with intent properly reflected his culpability; the impact of further evidence as to the impact of custody on him.

Request for an advisory opinion under Art 29 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine	152
Issue: Whether the ECtHR had competence to give an advisory opinion as to (i) what “protective conditions” were required to secure respect for integrity without discrimination when a person was detained for involuntary psychiatric treatment to protect their health and (ii) whether the same protective conditions were required in relation to involuntary treatment to protect others.

MB v Poland	168
Issue: Whether there was a breach of Art 5(1)(e) ECHR when detention on the basis of mental disorder was ordered in January 2015 on the basis of medical reports from January and February 2014 and put into effect in August 2015; the impact of a subsequent judicial review based on updated medical evidence.

N v Romania (No 2)	177
Issue: Whether removing legal capacity under a regime which provided only for full capacity or full incapacity breached Art 8 ECHR; whether a change of guardian through a process not involving the person without capacity breached Art 8.