Matthew Holdcroft and Cecily White succeed in the Court of Appeal case of Woodcock and CJ & PJ
15th January 2025
This morning, the Court of Appeal overturned Mr Justice Ritchie’s judgment in Woodcock and upheld Mr Justice Martin Spencer’s judgment in HD and others.
Matthew Holdcroft and Cecily White, led by Andrew Warnock KC of Deka Chambers, represented the successful Chief Constables in both cases which concerned liability of the police for the criminal actions of a third party and alleged police failure to investigate.
This is a very significant judgment. In brief:
- A generalised risk of future ill-treatment within Article 3 does not trigger the investigatory duty.
- A duty (under Article 3) cannot exist before it was owed.
- Foreseeability of harm is not sufficient to give rise to a duty (even a narrow one on these facts).
- A claimant that relies on an alleged assumption of responsibility will usually require a specific representation or promise to take a particular action.
- A claim based on an assumption of responsibility will generally also require reliance (not in the case of e.g. a vulnerable child) on the representation to be proved.
The judgment will help clarify the merits of both negligence and Article 3 claims, and resolves what many considered an anomaly created by Ritchie J.
Please click here for a copy of the judgment.
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