The ruling, which affects thousands of patients, is the first in which the Court of Appeal has made a declaration that a piece of domestic legislation is incompatible with the Human Rights Act. Yesterday's decision by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Master of the Rolls, sitting with Lords Justices Kennedy and Dyson means that the Government will have to act swiftly to amend the Mental Health Act 1983 to comply with the ruling. Yesterday's case was brought by a patient, H, who was convicted of manslaughter 1988. He was ordered to be detained in a hospital and was admitted to Broadmoor. He applied to a Mental Health Review Tribunal but it held that he should not be discharged.
H intends to re-apply for release to a tribunal.
Some 27,000 patients are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.