Next week, European Court judges will give their decisions on two cases alleging human rights breaches brought against the United Kingdom authorities.
The rulings are expected on Tuesday 18 September.
Buckland v. the United Kingdom (no. 40060/08)
The applicant, Maria Buckland, is a British national who was born in 1959 and lives in Cardiff (Wales). She is a gypsy. The case concerns her threatened eviction from the Cae Garw caravan site in Port Talbot, Wales, after a possession order was made against her and her family in August 2005.
Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life and home), she alleges in particular that she did not have the possibility of challenging the authorities’ decision in the domestic proceedings on the grounds of her personal circumstances. She left the caravan site in May 2008 following the House of
Lords’ refusal of her request for permission to appeal.
James and Others v. the United Kingdom (nos. 25119/09, 57715/09 and 57877/09)
The case concerns prisoners who were subject to indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for the public protection (“IPP sentences”) in the United Kingdom. The applicants, Brett James, Nicholas Wells and Jeffrey Lee, are British nationals who were born in 1985, 1983 and 1965 respectively.
James lives in Wakefield (England), Wells is currently in detention and Lee lives in Fleetwood (England). All three men were given automatic IPP sentences in 2005 following their convictions of various offences, in light of their offending history.
Relying on Article 5 §§ 1 and 4 (right to liberty and security), the three applicants complain about the failure to ensure their access to courses to address their offending behaviour while in prison and the impact of this failure on their ability to show that they were rehabilitated and able safely to be released.
