Information Commissioner's Office

Home Office

21 July 2016, Central government

The complainant requested previously unpublished content from the report “The Yorkshire Ripper Case: Review of the Police Investigation of the Case”. The Home Office refused to disclose this information and cited the exemptions provided by the following sections of the FOIA: 31(1)(a) (prejudice to the prevention or detection of crime), 31(1)(b) (prejudice to the apprehension or prosecution of offenders), 31(1)(c) (prejudice to the administration of justice), 38(1) (endangerment to health and safety) and 40(2) (personal information). The Commissioner’s decision is that sections 31(1)(a), (b) and (c) were cited correctly in relation to some of the content, but that other parts of the content should be disclosed. The Commissioner also finds that sections 38(1) and 40(2) were cited correctly in relation to some limited parts of the content. The Home Office is now required to disclose the withheld information, minus the content which he has found exempt.

FOI 31: Upheld FOI 38: Not upheld FOI 40: Not upheld