High Court's decision in R (Hewitson) v Parole Board
Congratulations to Rowena Wisniewska on her latest analysis for LexisNexis, on the High Court's decision in R (Hewitson) v Parole Board.
The High Court quashed the Parole Board's refusal to grant an oral hearing to a substantially post-tariff indeterminate sentence prisoner. Applying Osborn, it held that the Board had not given the case the anxious scrutiny required, particularly on the prisoner's mental health and vulnerability and how these bear on risk assessment and management. The judgment also endorses a rebuttable presumption in favour of an oral hearing in cases of this kind.
Rowena's piece sets out what this means in practice for those advising on challenges based on procedural fairness and Article 5(4) ECHR. A timely and useful read for public law and parole practitioners.
Read the full analysis here.
