R (on the application of C) v Secretary of State for Justice

The Supreme Court was asked to decide whether there should be a presumption of anonymity in civil proceedings in the High Court relating to a patient detained in a psychiatric hospital, or otherwise subject to compulsory powers, under the Mental Health Act 1983. The second issue was whether there should be an anonymity order on the facts of this particular case. The appellant had been convicted of murder in 1998 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in 2000 under a direction of the Secretary of State under section 47 of the 1983 Act. This permitted the Secretary of State to transfer a person serving a sentence of imprisonment to be detained in hospital for psychiatric treatment if the grounds for doing so exist. The Secretary of State could couple a transfer direction with a restriction direction under section 49 of the 1983 Act and did so in this case. The appellant had been refused consent to have unescorted leave in the community by the Secretary of State. He applied for judicial review of that decision, but the High Court rejected his challenge to the lawfulness of the Secretary of State's decision. The High Court had ordered that the appellant be anonymised in the proceedings, but the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against the refusal of anonymity. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and maintained the anonymity order in place.