Supreme Court balances mental health and open justice

R (on the application of C) v Secretary of State for Justice Personal Injury Compensation Volume 32 Number 4, [2016] UKSC 2, 27 January 2016

The patient, C, had been transferred to a psychiatric hospital from prison, where he had been serving a life sentence for two murders. Prior to this appeal, he had brought proceedings in the High Court seeking judicial review of the Secretary of State’s refusal to consent to his having unescorted leave in the community. During those proceedings, an interim anonymity order had been in place. The claim was ultimately rejected, and the High Court declined to continue the anonymity order, as did the Court of Appeal.