*R (on the application of W) v Secretary of State for Justice

Police – Disclosure of information. The claimant issued judicial review proceedings, challenging the regime which required disclosure of his 31-year-old conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm for which he had been given a two-year conditional discharge and been bound over to keep the peace for 12 months as a breach of his rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that Parliament had been fully entitled to draw a 'bright line' between the offences requiring disclosure and those that did not. Further, if the disposal was always relevant, the 'bright line' might have to be redrawn, and the requisite approach would be disproportionate and unworkable.