Still no right of privacy

Wainwright v Home Office [2003] UKHL 53

Mrs Wainwright and her son Alan, when visiting a relative in prison, consented to being strip-searched. Afterwards, Mrs Wainwright complained of the infliction of emotional distress, while Alan, who had learning and physical difficulties, claimed to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. The county court judge held that the searches could not be legally justified under rule 86(1) of the Prison Rules because instead of searching the visitors they could have searched the prisoner immediately after the visit. He awarded Alan £4,500 (including £1,000 aggravated damages for trespass) and although Mrs Wainwright’s distress did not amount to psychiatric injury, he thought tort law should provide a remedy for distress caused by the infringement of her right to privacy under article 8 of the Convention on Human Rights and awarded her £2,600 (including £1,000 aggravated damages). The Court of Appeal did not agree that the searches were unnecessary: it dismissed Mrs Wainwright’s claim and reduced Alan’s damages to £3,750.