Webster v Ministry of Justice

Human rights – Right to fair trial. Following the quashing of his convictions, the claimant sought damages under arts 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Lord Chancellor applied to strike out the claim and, alternatively, for summary judgment. The Queen's Bench Division, in allowing the applications, held that the claimant's case under art 6 of the Convention reached nowhere near establishing that the judge had acted in bad faith. Further, the claim under art 5 of the Convention could not succeed, as the judge had made an error of fact or law in the handling of the criminal case.