BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
internal procedure for selection had not been followed. There had therefore
been a breach of the Legal Resources Centre’s Article 8 rights. However,
the IPT was satisfied that no use was made of the material and that no
record had been retained so the applicant had not suffered material
detriment, damage or prejudice. Its determination therefore constituted just
satisfaction and no compensation was awarded.
RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICE
I.
RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW
A. The interception of communications
1. Warrants: general
61. Section 1(1) of RIPA 2000 (which has now been replaced by the
Investigatory Powers Act 2016) rendered unlawful the interception of any
communication in the course of its transmission by means of a public postal
service or a public telecommunication system unless it took place in
accordance with a warrant under section 5 (“intercept warrant”).
62. Section 5(2) allowed the Secretary of State to authorise an intercept
warrant if he or she believed that it was necessary for the reasons set out in
section 5(3), namely that it was in the interests of national security, for the
purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime, or for safeguarding the
economic well-being of the United Kingdom (so far as those interests are
also relevant to the interests of national security – see paragraphs 3.5
and 6.11 of the IC Code at paragraph 96 below); and that the conduct
authorised by the warrant was proportionate to what was sought to be
achieved by that conduct. In assessing necessity and proportionality,
account had to be taken of whether the information sought under the warrant
could reasonably have been obtained by other means.
63. Section 81(2)(b) of RIPA defined “serious crime” as crime which
satisfied one of the following criteria:
“(a) that the offence or one of the offences that is or would be constituted by the
conduct is an offence for which a person who has attained the age of twenty-one and
has no previous convictions could reasonably be expected to be sentenced to
imprisonment for a term of three years or more;
(b) that the conduct involves the use of violence, results in substantial financial gain
or is conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose.”
64. Section 81(5) provided:
“For the purposes of this Act detecting crime shall be taken to include–
(a) establishing by whom, for what purpose, by what means and generally in what
circumstances any crime was committed; and
(b) the apprehension of the person by whom any crime was committed;
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