Queen’s Bench Division
Published June 13, 2008
Regina (Wood) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

Taking and retaining photographs of someone engaged in a political protest or demonstration was not unlawful and did not infringe his human rights.

Mr Justice McCombe so held in the Queen’s Bench Division, on May 22, 2008, when dismissing a claim for judicial review by Andrew Wood, an employee of the Campaign against Arms Trade, of the decision of officers of the defendant, the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, to photograph him and try to obtain details of his identity at the Reed Elsevier plc annual general meeting on April 27, 2005.

HIS LORDSHIP said that Reed Elsevier was the parent of a company which organised trade fairs for various industries including the arms industry.

The defendant deployed uniformed officers and a civilian photographer, also in uniform, to the meeting, after which photographs were taken of the claimant.

It was clear from previous authorities that the mere taking of a person’s photograph in a public street did not generally interfere with that person’s right of privacy under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

There were no English cases dealing with the retention of photographic material by police but the English courts at the highest level had adopted a very robust approach to questions of interference with article 8 rights in relation to the taking of photographs and their retention, and to the retention of intimate samples for proper police purposes in assisting in the detection of crime.

Bearing those authorities in mind, the retention of the photographs had not interfered with the claimant’s rights.

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