England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM SWANSEA CROWN COURT
(MR JUSTICE RICHARDS)

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2 Monday, 17th December 2001

Monday, 17th December 2001

1. LORD JUSTICE SCHIEMANN: Before me is an application by Mr John Howard for permission to appeal a refusal by Richards J to permit an application to be made for judicial review. That refusal was on 30th July 2001. The decision which Mr Howard wants to review is a decision of His Honour Judge Griffiths QC which was made in 1982 in the Swansea Crown Court. Richards J bases his decision to refuse permission on the extreme delay, which is some 19 years or so, and on the fact that he could not actually see that, so far as the court process is concerned, His Honour Judge Griffiths had acted in any way improperly.
2. The problem here evidently arose out of Mr Howard's relationship with his hotel. He had a hotel in the early 1980s and he lost his licence. He feels and felt then, that he was extremely badly treated by the South Wales Police and various other people who conspired against him. He explained the delay to Richards J largely by reason of the fact that he is unfortunate enough to suffer in any event from time to time from mental illnesses which prevent him from concentrating on a particular legal process that he wishes to pursue. I asked him whether he owned the pub now and he said no, but he said that the reason that he wants to make this application is because he has a very long statement which he wishes to read in some court and all the lower courts have refused him, and the long statement will expose a series of misdeeds by a series of people. I have not seen the long statement in the sense that I have not opened it, but I have had it shown to me and it is obviously a very long volume. Nor am I entirely clear as to the present situation of Mr Howard, whether he is a patient under the Mental Health Act, in which case he would actually need to act by a litigation friend in order to come before the court, or whether he is entitled to appear on his own.
3. So far as the present application before me, which deals with the application for a claim for judicial review of a magistrate's decision made in the Swansea Crown Court in 1982, is concerned, (a decision which, according to the application for judicial review is dated 17th March 1982) I am quite satisfied that this is first, a long time out of time, not just a month or two, but many many years; and secondly, that the facts are not such that it would be appropriate to extend the time. Even if one were to extend the time it is not a situation in which the courts would be fulfilling any useful function so far as Mr Howard is concerned. He must deal with his statement elsewhere as best he can if he thinks that is desirable; but there is here no reason to grant permission to move for judicial review.
(Application refused; no order for costs).