Case Reports

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rejected 12 separate grounds of appeal by a murderer who claimed his counsel were dishonest, lacking integrity, and encouraged him to perjure himself. The appellant was unanimously convicted by a jury of murdering his girlfriend Anita Downey in the early

Northern Ireland’s High Court has ruled in favour of an applicant who challenged his parole refusal. The court found that the parole decision failed to appropriately consider and examine license conditions on which the applicant may have been suitable for release. The applicant, a 44-year-old

The High Court has held that children who were wrongfully abducted by their mother must be returned to their father in England. In reaching this decision, the court held that the mother had provided insufficient evidence to establish a grave risk to the children or to conclude that they would be in

The High Court has refused a non-contentious application for liberty to extract a grant of probate relating to a deceased’s Irish assets in circumstances where a subsequent UK will appeared to revoke the Irish will. The deceased had executed a will in Ireland which bequeathed a holiday home to

The High Court has held that a Disability Appeals Officer has the power to direct the delivery of services to disabled children earlier than the waiting times contained in a service statement. It was held that a parent was entitled to make a complaint about the length of time it would take to provid

Northern Ireland’s High Court has dismissed an application for parental responsibility where the father was found to be coercive, and had sexually assaulted the child’s mother while he was in the home. The court did grant an indirect contact order between the father and son, but also gra

The High Court has upheld a decision by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) which rejected a man’s claim that he was in fear for his life for refusing to become a fetish priest in Ghana. The man claimed to have been kidnapped and beaten by his family members and would have bee

The Supreme Court has determined that developers are not required to submit a distinct identifiable document in a planning application for a strategic housing development under article 299B of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001. The appeal resolved a difference of judicial opinion in two

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Gemma O’Doherty and John Waters in their failed challenge to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions from Spring 2020. The appeal concerned whether the applicants were required to show expert evidence relating to the proportionality of the measures adopt

The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal against an order removing an elderly couple from possession of a property which they had agreed to purchase from the previous owner. The couple had been in possession of the property for five years and paid a nominal rent during that time. Delivering judgmen

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has found that a Hospital Tribunal and a subsequent High Court decision erred in the legal test to be applied for detention of a mentally impaired patient. The court granted the appeal against a decision of Mr Justice Adrian Colton, where it was found that th

The High Court has awarded €350,000 in favour of a woman who was sexually abused by her father and raped by her uncle as a child. The abuse lasted at least eight years and began when she was seven years old. Delivering judgment in the case, Mr Justice Garrett Simons considered the jurisprudence

The High Court has held that a defendant was estopped from relying on the Statute of Limitations 1957 based on a clear and unequivocal admission of liability prior to the institution of personal injuries proceedings. The defendant had attempted to enter settlement negotiations with the plaintiff&rsq

The High Court has criticised the Child and Family Agency for a “litany of failings” in the management of a foster care placement for a child and refused to grant an order for adoption. The application was brought by the CFA as the child had been in foster care for nearly 18 years. Howev

The Court of Appeal has upheld an 18-year sentence imposed on a man who committed sexual assaults of “exceptional depravity” on his daughter. The accused was charged with 92 counts of various sexual offences which occurred between the ages of three and 15. In an ex tempore ruling, Ms Jus