R (MNL) v Westminster Magistrates Court and (1) British Broadcasting Corporation, (2) Martin Bentham and (3) The National Crime Agency

The Divisional Court (Warby LJ and Mostyn J) dismissed a claim for judicial review of a decision of the Westminster Magistrates Court to lift an order anonymising the Claimant in connection with a claim for forfeiture of assets brought by the National Crime Agency under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, in which the Claimant was neither a party nor a witness. The Divisional Court held that the judge had been entitled to resolve the conflict between the imperatives of open justice and the rights of a non-party to respect for his private life in favour of open justice.

The Claimant was represented by Lord Pannick KC, Jessica Boyd KC and Gervase de Wilde.

The First Interested Party was represented by Monica Carss-Frisk KC and Jude Bunting KC.

The full judgment can be found here.