Harassment

Howlett v Holding QBD TLR 25 January

The claimant was a local councillor who had spoken against a planning application made by the defendant’s company. The defendant commenced a campaign against her, which involved flying banners from his aircraft referring to her in abusive and derogatory terms, dropping leaflets from time to time and placing her under secret surveillance in an attempt to prove that she was committing benefit fraud. He defended the claimant’s claim for an injunction under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 on the grounds that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and that secret surveillance was permitted by s1(3) of the Prevention of Crime Act 1997, namely that the action was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime.