Gallagher, Re an Application by for Judicial Review [2003] NIQB 26 (9 April 2003)
Ref:
KERC3905
KERR J
Introduction
The statutory provisions
"A person becomes subject to the notification requirements of this Part if, after the commencement of this Part—
(a) he is convicted of a sexual offence to which this Part applies;
…"
"2 Effect of notification requirements
(1) A person who is subject to the notification requirements of this Part shall, before the end of the period of [three days] beginning with the relevant date or, if later, the commencement of this Part, notify to the police the following information,
(2) A person who is subject to those requirements shall also, before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with—
(a) his using a name which has not been notified to the police under this section;
(b) any change of his home address; or
(c) his having resided or stayed, for a qualifying period, at any premises in the United Kingdom the address of which has not been notified to the police under this section
notify that name, the effect of that change or, as the case may be, the address of those premises to the police.
(3) A notification given to the police by any person shall not be regarded as complying with subsection (1) or (2) above unless it also states—
(a) his date of birth
(b) his name on the relevant date and, where he used one or more other names on that date, each of those names; and
(c) his home address on that date.
"(5) A person may give a notification under this section by-
(a) attending at any police station in his local police area, and
(b) giving an oral notification to any police officer, or to any person authorised for the purpose by the officer in charge of the station,
and a notification under subsection (2) above may also be given by sending a written notification to any such police station."
"(6A) A person giving a notification under subsection (1) above shall also, if requested to do so by the police officer or other person referred to in subsection (5)(b) above, allow the officer or person to take his fingerprints and his photograph, or either of them.
(6B) The power to take fingerprints in pursuance of subsection (6A) above is exercisable for the purpose of verifying the identity of the person giving the notification by checking the fingerprints against any other fingerprints to which the officer or person has access.
…
(6D) In relation to persons subject to the notification requirements of this Part who leave the United Kingdom, or any description of such persons, the Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for requiring them-
(a) to give in accordance with the regulations, before they leave, a notice under subsection (6E) below, and
(b) if they subsequently return to the United Kingdom, to give in accordance with the regulations a notice under subsection (6F) below.
(6E) A notice under this subsection must disclose-
(a) the date on which he will leave the United Kingdom, the country to which he will travel (or, if there is more than one, the first country) and his point of arrival, determined in accordance with the regulations, in that country,
(b) any other information prescribed by the regulations which the person holds about his departure from or return to the United Kingdom or his movements while outside the United Kingdom.
In this subsection, "country" includes territory.
(6F) A notice under this subsection must disclose any information prescribed by the regulations about the person's return to the United Kingdom.
(6G) The power to make regulations under subsections (6D) to (6F) above is exercisable by statutory instrument, and no such regulations shall be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament."
"Additional information to be disclosed in a notice under section 2(6E) of the Act
5. In addition to the information required to be disclosed under section 2(6E)(a) of the Act, a notice under section 2(6E) must disclose, where a person holds such information at least 48 hours prior to his intended departure from the United Kingdom -
(a) where he intends to travel to more than one country outside the United Kingdom, his intended point of arrival in each such additional country,
(b) the identity of any carrier or carriers he intends to use for the purposes of his departure from and return to the United Kingdom, and of travelling to any other point of arrival,
(c) details of his accommodation arrangements for his first night outside the United Kingdom,
(d) in a case in which he intends to return to the United Kingdom on a particular date, that date, and
(e) in a case in which he intends to return to the United Kingdom at a particular point of arrival, that point of arrival.
"Change to information disclosed in a notice under section 2(6E) of the Act
6. - (1) Where -
(a) a person has given a notice under section 2(6E) of the Act, and
(b) at any time earlier than 48 hours prior to his intended departure from the United Kingdom, the information disclosed in that notice becomes inaccurate or incomplete as a statement of all the information mentioned in section 2(6E)(a) of the Act and regulation 5 above which he currently holds,
the person must give a fresh notice under section 2(6E) of the Act.
(2) A fresh notice under paragraph (1) above must be given at least 24 hours prior to the person's intended departure from the United Kingdom."
"Notice to be given on return to the United Kingdom
7. - (1) This regulation applies to persons who -
(a) were required to give a notice under section 2(6E) of the Act,
(b) have left the United Kingdom accordingly, and(c) have subsequently returned to the United Kingdom.
(2) Except as provided by paragraph (3) below, every person to whom this regulation applies must give notice under section 2(6F) of the Act within eight days of his return to the United Kingdom.(3) A person to whom this regulation applies need not give a notice under section 2(6F) of the Act in any case in which he gave a relevant notice under section 2(6E) of the Act which -
(a) disclosed a date under the provisions of sub-paragraph (d) of regulation 5 above, and
(b) disclosed a point of arrival under the provisions of sub-paragraph (e) of regulation 5 above,
and in which his return to the United Kingdom was on that date and at that point of arrival."
"3 Offences
(1) If a person—
(a) fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with section 2(1) or (2) above; or
(b) notifies to the police, in purported compliance with section 2(1) or (2) above, any information which he knows to be false,
he is guilty of an offence.
The arguments
Are the measures proportionate?
"In this connection the Court refers to its above finding that there is no evidence before it to suggest that the applicant is at particular risk of public humiliation or attack as a result of his obligations under the Act. Thus, it will examine the proportionality of the impugned measures on the basis that the interference with private life in issue in the present case extends only to the requirement to register with the police.
The Court notes that the Act requires the applicant, upon being released from prison, to inform the police of inter alia his name, any other names he uses, his date of birth and his home address, and, during an indeterminate period, to notify them of any subsequent changes of name or home address within 14 days of any change.
It is necessary to weigh against this the importance of the aims pursued by the Act. The Court has previously referred to the gravity of the harm which may be caused to the victims of sexual offences (see the Stubbings and Others v. the United Kingdom judgment of 22 October 1996, Reports 1996-IV, p. 1505, § 64) and has held that States are under a duty under the Convention to take certain measures to protect individuals from such grave forms of interference (ibid., §§ 62 and 64).
Against this background, the Court does not consider that the requirement to provide information to the police can be said to be disproportionate to the aims pursued."
"Judicial recognition and assertion of the human rights defined in the Convention is not a substitute for the processes of democratic government but a complement to them. While a national court does not accord the margin of appreciation recognised by the European Court as a supra-national court, it will give weight to the decisions of a representative legislature and a democratic government within the discretionary area of judgment accorded to those bodies (see Lester and Pannick Human Rights Law and Practice (1999) pp 73–76 (paras 3.20–3.26). The Convention is concerned with rights and freedoms which are of real importance in a modern democracy governed by the rule of law. It does not, as is sometimes mistakenly thought, offer relief from 'The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to'."