Bench warrant without contempt

Zakharov and others v White and others ChD TLR 13 November

The first defendant, Brian White, failed to surrender his passport in accordance with one of the terms of an asset-freezing injunction. Although the court had not made findings that Mr White was in contempt of court, it issued a bench warrant for his arrest on the application of the first claimant. Mr White applied to set aside the bench warrant (although it had been executed and was spent) on the grounds that (i) in a commercial case in the Chancery Division the court had no jurisdiction to issue a bench warrant absent a prior finding that the defendant was in contempt of court and (ii) a subsequent arrest infringed his right to liberty contained in article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.