GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates represent P whose was granted conditional bail

GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates represent P whose was granted conditional bail by His Honour Judge Jameson KC, sitting in chambers at Leeds Crown Court. There was a pre-condition that P surrendered his passport to his local police station which was done on Thursday 12 January 2023. We contacted the Governor at HMP Leeds to advise them that the pre-condition for the release of P had been met and he should be immediately released.  The Governor refused to release P.

We prepared an out-of-hours application for a writ of habeas corpus and requested an urgent oral hearing before the out of hours High Court judge .  The application was heard at 22:45 hrs by Mrs Justice Eady DBE. We argued that there was no lawful authority for P’s continued detention on the basis that the surrender of the passport met the requirement as set by HHJ Jameson KC for P to be released on conditional bail.

Mrs Justice Eady accepted that whilst prison authorities needed to carry out checks before releasing someone who has been held on remand that cannot provide a basis for that person’s continued detention.  A Court Order was served on HMP Leeds requiring them to appear before the Royal Courts of Justice at 12 noon on 13 January 2023 to explain what lawful basis existed for P’s continued detention.

Philip Mahoney appeared before the High Court and he successfully argued that P should be released forthwith.  The court agreed and granted a writ of habeas corpus.  We immediately served this on the prison and  P was released.

Patricia Walker, Supervising Solicitor represented P at the initial application before Mrs Justice Eady and Philip Mahoney, Solicitor Advocate, represented P at the return Hearing.