The European Court of Human Rights will hand down judgment in the case of Lorraine Allen on July 12th 2013.
Lorraine Allen, a mother who was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice in one of the high-profile ‘shaken-baby’ cases, took her fight for compensation to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.
The ECHR’s Grand Chamber of the Court heard Lorraine’s case on November 14th 2012. However judgment was reserved at the time and will be handed down in July.
Lorraine was convicted of the manslaughter of her four-month old son Patrick in 2000, after prosecution experts claimed the only explanation for his collapse was violent shaking or shaking plus impact. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a child born while she was serving that sentence was taken away from her and placed for adoption.
The conviction was quashed in 2005, after fresh medical expert evidence proved it to be unsafe and as a victim of miscarriage of justice, Lorraine applied for compensation but this was refused by the Home Secretary because her claim, it was argued, did not meet the statutory criteria. Lorraine challenged the decision by Judicial Review, but this was refused by the High Court in 2007 and the subsequent appeal was dismissed in 2008.
Mike Pemberton, partner and head of the human rights law & civil liberties at Stephensons Solicitors LLP represents Lorraine. He said: “This is the last step in the long road to justice to obtain the compensation. We await the outcome with some anticipation. If we are successful, this could lead to a change in the law in this country as to how compensation claims are considered.
“The case was referred onto the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights because of its importance and the complexity of the issues involved.”
Cases can be heard before the Grand Chamber in one of two ways: a referral or a relinquishment.
A referral request can be made by parties following the judgement of a Chamber but such requests are only accepted on an exceptional basis. A panel of judges of the Grand Chamber makes a decision on whether to accept a request for a referral. If so then the Grand Chamber will consider the case afresh.
In Lorraine Allen’s case, the Chamber relinquished the case which is again exceptional. Cases can only be relinquished under the Court Rules where it raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or if there is a risk of inconsistency with a previous judgment of the Court.
An interview with Mike Pemberton and Lorraine on BBC Breakfast just prior to the hearing in November can be seen here.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Figures from the ECHR indicate that in the period 1998-2011 only 110 cases where relinquished to the Grand Chamber. At 1/1/10 119,300 cases were awaiting consideration by the European Court generally.
- Mike Pemberton is greatly experienced in public law, human rights matters and judicial review, and is recognised by Chambers UK as a leader in the field of Prison Law and Civil Liberties.
- Stephensons is a large national law firm with ten offices across the country in London, Manchester, Altrincham, Wigan, Bolton, Leigh and St Helens.
- The firm has 36 partners and almost 400 staff, offering a range of legal services to individuals and businesses.
Media information: Lianne Tracey, PR Executive
Stephensons Solicitors LLP
Tel: 01616 966 229
Email: lct@stephensons.co.uk