Lorna McMahon, R (on the application of) v Independent Office for Police Conduct
[2024] EWHC 556 (Admin)
McMahon v Independent Office for Police Conduct
11 July 2024
[2024] EWCA Civ 994
Court of Appeal
Ms McMahon lost her appeal. The court said the lower court judge was right to refuse her request to challenge the police watchdog's (IOPC) decision. The court focused on whether the process was fair, not whether the decision was correct. The missing video and other issues raised didn't show the process was unfair.
Key Facts
- •Ms McMahon applied for permission to appeal the refusal of her application for judicial review of an IOPC decision.
- •The IOPC refused a review of a GMP reinvestigation into a complaint by Ms McMahon regarding the death of her niece, Theresa.
- •The complaint concerned GMP's failure to investigate Theresa's allegations of domestic violence.
- •Key evidence included an audio recording of a conversation between Theresa and PC Sharrocks, and missing body-worn video (BWV) footage.
- •Ms McMahon alleged procedural unfairness and a lack of proper consideration of evidence by the IOPC and the High Court judge.
- •An inquest into Theresa's death was pending.
Legal Principles
Judicial review is concerned with the process, not the merits of a decision.
Court of Appeal judgment
The Court of Appeal will not interfere with a judge's assessment of the merits of grounds for judicial review unless the judge applied the wrong legal principles or didn't consider all relevant evidence.
Court of Appeal judgment
Disclosure is rarely ordered in judicial review proceedings.
Court of Appeal judgment
For disclosure to be ordered, it must be necessary to deal fairly and justly with a particular issue; the issue cannot be fairly resolved without the evidence.
Court of Appeal judgment
It is generally a matter for the decision-maker to decide what evidence is relevant.
Court of Appeal judgment
The court's role is not to assess evidence not considered by the decision-maker, except in exceptional circumstances.
Court of Appeal judgment
The test for permission to appeal is whether the grounds would have a real prospect of success.
Court of Appeal judgment
Outcomes
Permission to appeal refused.
The Court of Appeal found that the judge had applied the correct legal principles and reached a decision reasonably open to her on the evidence. The grounds of appeal lacked a real prospect of success.
Application for disclosure of BWV footage refused.
The footage was deemed irrelevant to the IOPC's decision, and the judge's decision was a matter of case management discretion.
Grounds relating to the alleged deletion of BWV footage and procedural unfairness dismissed.
While there were valid forensic points raised, they did not demonstrate arguable public law error in the IOPC's decision.
Grounds relating to the conduct of counsel dismissed.
While counsel's conduct may have been inappropriate, it did not affect the fairness of the proceedings.
Grounds relating to the Clare's Law aspect and the IOPC's reliance on police evidence dismissed.
The IOPC's remit is limited to reviewing the reasonableness and proportionality of the GMP investigation; it is not to conduct its own investigation.
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