LORD MANCE (with whom Lord Hope, Lord Hughes and Lord Kerr agree)
Summary
1.
Two appeals are before the Court by prisoners who were convicted of
murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In the case of the appellant Peter
Chester, the tariff period fixed expired many years ago, but he has not yet satisfied
the Parole Board that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that
he should be confined. In the case of the appellant George McGeoch, the
sentencing judge fixed a punishment part of 13 years which expired on 7 October
2011, but he has committed various intervening offences including violently
escaping from lawful custody in 2008 for which he received a seven and a half
year consecutive sentence. The result is that the earliest date on which McGeoch
could be considered for parole is July 2015.
2.
Both the appellants claim that their rights have been and are being infringed
by reason of their disenfranchisement from voting. Chester’s claim for judicial
review was issued in December 2008 and relates to voting in United Kingdom and
European Parliamentary elections. It relies on Article 3 of Protocol No 1 (“A3P1”)
as incorporated into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998 and directly on
European Union law. Burton J and the Court of Appeal (Lord Neuberger MR,
Laws and Carnwath LJJ), [2010] EWCA Civ 1439, [2011] 1 WLR 14346,
dismissed Chester’s claim. They held that it was not the court’s role to sanction the
government for continuing delay in implementing the European Court of Human
Rights’ decision in Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) (2005) 42 EHRR 849 or to
repeat the declaration of incompatibility issued by the Scottish Registration Appeal
Court in Smith v Scott 2007 SC 345 or issue advice as to the form which
compatible legislation might take. They held that European Union law raises no
separate issue.
3.
McGeoch’s claim for judicial review was issued in February 2011 and
related to voting in local municipal and Scottish Parliamentary elections. It relies
solely on European Union law. The Extra Division dismissed the petition on the
ground that European Union law only conferred a right to vote in municipal
elections in a Member State on European Union citizens residing in a Member
State of which they were not nationals. It also considered that Scottish
Parliamentary elections were not for this purpose municipal elections. Before the
Extra Division McGeoch was refused permission to amend to include a complaint
relating to voting in European Parliamentary elections, but a corresponding
amendment was permitted by the Supreme Court by order of 15 October 2012.
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