PROCEDURE

The case was referred to the Court by the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission“) on 28 May 1996, within the three-month period laid down by Article 32 para. 1 and Article 47 of the Convention (art. 32-1, art. 47). The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the Government“) also applied to refer the case to the Court on 27 August 1996 (see paragraph 6 below). It originated in an application (no. 20605/92) against the United Kingdom lodged with the Commission under Article 25 (art. 25) by Ms Alison Halford, a British citizen, on 22 April 1992. The Commission’s request referred to Articles 44 and 48 (art. 44, art. 48) and to the declaration whereby the United Kingdom recognised the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court (Article 46) (art. 46). The object of the request was to obtain a decision as to whether the facts of the case disclosed a breach by the respondent State of its obligations under Articles 8, 10, 13 and 14 of the Convention (art. 8, art. 10, art. 13, art. 14).

In response to the enquiry made in accordance with Rule 33 para. 3 (d) of Rules of Court A, the applicant stated that she wished to take part in the proceedings and designated the lawyer who would represent her (Rule 30).

The Chamber to be constituted included ex officio Sir John Freeland, the elected judge of British nationality (Article 43 of the Convention) (art. 43), and Mr R. Bernhardt, the Vice-President of the Court (Rule 21 para. 4 (b)). On 10 June 1996, in the presence of the Registrar, the President of the Court, Mr R. Ryssdal, drew by lot the names of the other seven members, namely Mr L.-E. Pettiti, Mr C. Russo, Mr A. Spielmann, Mr I. Foighel, Mr J.M. Morenilla, Mr M.A. Lopes Rocha and Mr P. Kuris (Article 43 in fine of the Convention and Rule 21 para. 5) (art. 43).

As President of the Chamber (Rule 21 para. 6), Mr Bernhardt, acting through the Deputy Registrar, consulted the Agent of the Government, the applicant’s lawyer and the Delegate of the Commission on the organisation of the proceedings (Rules 37 para. 1 and 38). Pursuant to the order made in consequence, the Registrar received the Government’s memorial on 2 January 1997 and the applicant’s memorial on 6 January 1997.

On 20 August 1996 Mr Bernhardt had granted leave to Liberty, a non-governmental human rights organisation based in London, to submit written comments on specified aspects of the case (Rule 37 para. 2). These were received on 2 January 1997.

On 21 February 1997, the Chamber decided to reject the Government’s application to refer the case to the Court, on the grounds that it was received after the expiry of the three-month period laid down by Articles 32 para. 1 and 47 of the Convention (art. 32-1, art. 47) and that there was no exceptional reason for extending the time-limit.

In accordance with the President’s decision, the hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 17 March 1997. The Court had held a preparatory meeting beforehand. There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Government Mr M. Eaton, Deputy Legal Adviser, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Agent, Mr J. Eadie, Barrister-at-Law, Counsel, Mr H. Carter, Home Office, Mr P. Regan, Home Office, Mr C. Raikes, Department of Trade and Industry, Advisers; (b) for the Commission Mrs J. Liddy, Delegate; (c) for the applicant Mr R. Makin, Solicitor, Mr P. Duffy, Barrister-at-Law, Counsel. The Court heard addresses by Mrs Liddy, Mr Makin, Mr Duffy and Mr Eadie and also the answer to a question put by one of its members.

AS TO THE FACTS

I. Circumstances of the case

The applicant, Ms Alison Halford, was born in 1940 and lives in the Wirral. From 1962 until her retirement in 1992 she worked in the police service.

A. Background to the alleged telephone interceptions

In May 1983 Ms Halford was appointed to the rank of Assistant Chief Constable with the Merseyside police. As such she became the most senior-ranking female police officer in the United Kingdom.

On eight occasions during the following seven years, Ms Halford applied unsuccessfully to be appointed to the rank of Deputy Chief Constable, in response to vacancies arising within Merseyside and other police authorities. In order to be considered for promotion to this rank, Home Office approval was required. However, according to the applicant, this was consistently withheld on the recommendation of the Chief Constable of the Merseyside police, who objected to her commitment to equality of treatment between men and women.

Following a further refusal to promote her in February 1990, Ms Halford commenced proceedings on 4 June 1990 in the Industrial Tribunal against, inter alia, the Chief Constable of Merseyside and the Home Secretary, claiming that she had been discriminated against on grounds of sex. On 14 June 1990, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Merseyside Police Authority were designated a “Special Committee“ to handle the issues arising from the discrimination case.

Ms Halford alleges that certain members of the Merseyside Police Authority launched a “campaign“ against her in response to her complaint to the Industrial Tribunal. This took the form, inter alia, of leaks to the press, interception of her telephone calls (see paragraph 16 below) and the decision to bring disciplinary proceedings against her.

Thus, on 14 September 1990, the Special Committee referred to the Senior Officers’ Disciplinary Committee a report written by the Chief Constable about an alleged incident of misconduct on the part of Ms Halford on 24 July 1990. The Disciplinary Committee resolved, on 20 September 1990, to hold a formal investigation and to refer the matter to the Police Complaints Authority and, on 8 February 1991, to press charges. Ms Halford was suspended from duty on full pay from 12 December 1990.

She challenged the above decisions by way of judicial review in the High Court. The matter was adjourned by Mr Justice MacPherson in September 1991 in view of a possible settlement. However, the parties failed to reach agreement and the matter came back before him on 20 December 1991. He found that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Police Authority had acted ultra vires and, without imputing ill-motive to them, held that there had been an element of unfairness. He therefore quashed the relevant decisions.

The hearing before the Industrial Tribunal took place in June 1992. On 14 July 1992 the proceedings were adjourned pending negotiation between the parties, which led to settlement of the case. Ms Halford was given an ex gratia payment of 10,000 pounds sterling (GBP) by the Chief Constable (the statutory maximum which the Industrial Tribunal could have awarded), together with GBP 5,000 towards her personal expenses by the Home Secretary. It was agreed that she would retire from the police force on medical grounds (arising out of an injury to her knee in 1989). In addition, the Home Office agreed to implement various proposals put by the Equal Opportunities Commission, inter alia to update and review selection procedures for senior posts within the police force.

B. The alleged interceptions

As Assistant Chief Constable, Ms Halford was provided with her own office and two telephones, one of which was for private use. These telephones were part of the Merseyside police internal telephone network, a telecommunications system outside the public network. No restrictions were placed on the use of these telephones and no guidance was given to her, save for an assurance which she sought and received from the Chief Constable shortly after she instituted the proceedings in the Industrial Tribunal that she had authorisation to attend to the case while on duty, including by telephone. In addition, since she was frequently “on call“, a substantial part of her home telephone costs were paid by the Merseyside police. Her home telephone consisted of a telephone apparatus connected, through the “network termination point“, to the public telecommunications network.

She alleges that calls made from her home and her office telephones were intercepted for the purposes of obtaining information to use against her in the discrimination proceedings. In support of these allegations she adduced various items of evidence before the Commission (see paragraph 21 of the Commission’s report). In addition, she informed the Court that she was told by an anonymous source on 16 April 1991 that, shortly before, the source had discovered the Merseyside police checking transcripts of conversations made on her home telephone. For the purposes of the case before the Court, the Government accepted that the applicant had adduced sufficient material to establish a reasonable likelihood that calls made from her office telephones were intercepted. They did not, however, accept that she had adduced sufficient material to establish such a reasonable likelihood in relation to her home telephone.

Ms Halford raised her concerns about the interception of her calls before the Industrial Tribunal on 17 June 1992. On 2 July 1992, in the course of the hearing, counsel for the Home Secretary expressed the opinion that it was not possible for her to adduce evidence about the alleged interceptions before the Industrial Tribunal because section 9 of the Interception of Communications Act 1985 (“the 1985 Act“) expressly excluded the calling of evidence before any court or tribunal which tended to suggest that an offence under section 1 of the Act had been committed (see paragraph 25 below).

On 6 December 1991 Ms Halford applied to the Interception of Communications Tribunal (“the Tribunal“) for an investigation under section 7 of the 1985 Act (see paragraphs 30-32 below). In a letter dated 21 February 1992, the Tribunal informed her that its investigation had satisfied it that there had been no contravention of sections 2 to 5 of the 1985 Act in her case (see paragraphs 26-29 below). In a letter dated 27 March 1992, the Tribunal confirmed that it could not specify whether any interception had in fact taken place (see paragraph 32 below).

In a letter to Mr David Alton MP dated 4 August 1992, the Home Secretary explained that Ms Halford’s complaint regarding the interception of calls made from her office telephones “[did] not fall within [his] responsibilities as Home Secretary nor within the terms of the [1985] Act“.