PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 42007/98) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a United Kingdom national, Vernon John Davies (“the applicant”), on 29 October 1997.

The applicant was represented before the Court by Ms J. Rickards and Mr J.P. Gardner, solicitors practising in London. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms Helen Upton, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The applicant alleged, in particular, a breach of his right under Article 6 § 1 to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.

The application was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).

The application was originally allocated to the Third Section of the Court, which declared it partly inadmissible on 26 September 2000. On 23 October 2001 the Third Section declared the application admissible insofar as the applicant complained about the length of the “Blackspur” proceedings, and declared the remainder of the application inadmissible.

On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1 of the Rules of Court) and the application was allocated to the newly composed Fourth Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1 of the Rules of Court.

The applicant, but not the Government, filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1). The Chamber decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 § 2 in fine). On 15 April 2002 the Government submitted observations in connection with the applicant's claims under Article 41 of the Convention.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The Blackspur group of companies (collectively, “Blackspur”), was formed by the applicant and others in September 1987 and at various times the applicant acted as director and chairman. Blackspur went into receivership in July 1990 with an estimated deficit of GBP 34 million.

On 1 July 1992, on the last day of the applicable two year limitation period, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (“the Secretary of State”) issued proceedings against the applicant and four others (“the Blackspur proceedings”) under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (“the CDDA”: see paragraphs 19-20 below).

The Secretary of State's evidence was not complete at the time he commenced proceedings, and he applied for an extension of time for the serving of evidence (see paragraph 21 below). The applicant refused to consent to an extension being granted and instead, on 13 October 1992, together with two other defendants, applied to strike out the proceedings.

The Secretary of State's evidence was completed and served on the applicant on 14 December 1992. The application for permission to file the evidence out of time, and the cross-application to strike out the proceedings, were not heard by the Registrar until 20 May 1993, when they were adjourned to 29 July 1993. On 27 January 1994 the Registrar granted the Secretary of State's application for an extension of time and dismissed the applicant's strike-out application. The applicant appealed to the High Court.

Related criminal charges had been brought against the four other defendants in the Blackspur proceedings, but not the applicant, on 1 July 1992. The criminal trial took place between March and June 1994, during which period the disqualification proceedings were adjourned generally, with liberty to restore. At the conclusion of the criminal trial, two defendants were acquitted and two were convicted. On appeal, the two convictions were quashed in February 1995.

By letters dated 19 July and 16 September 1994 the defendants to the Blackspur disqualification proceedings wrote to the Secretary of State inviting him to reconsider whether to carry on with the proceedings. On 15 December 1994 the Treasury Solicitor replied that the Secretary of State had decided that it remained expedient in the public interest to continue.

Once the criminal trial had been concluded, the applicant's appeal to the High Court against the Registrar's decision of 27 January 1994 could proceed and was dismissed on 2 May 1995. In November 1995 the applicant was granted leave to appeal out of time to the Court of Appeal, and his substantive appeal was dismissed by that court on 24 May 1996. The Court of Appeal found that the reasons for the Secretary of State's failure to complete his evidence before the proceedings were commenced had been “far from satisfactory”, but considered nonetheless that the case should proceed since it was in the public interest to determine the “particularly serious” allegations of false accounting and trading while insolvent made against the defendants. In addition, the court observed that the delay by the Secretary of State had not affected the timing of the hearing or prejudiced the applicant, and that, once the proceedings had commenced, “the respondents' main concern was to delay the proceedings until after the conclusion of the criminal trial, not to hurry them on”.

On 1 July 1996 the Registrar directed that the defendants should serve their evidence in response to that of the Secretary of State by 29 November 1996. That order was not complied with, and on 9 December 1996 the Registrar ordered that if the defendants had not served their evidence by 17 January 1997, they would be debarred from adducing any evidence.

The defendants served their evidence on 17 January 1997. On 20 January 1997 the Registrar directed that the Secretary of State should serve his evidence in reply by 17 March 1997. On 14 April 1997 the Registrar granted the Secretary of State a time-extension for the serving of evidence in reply until 30 June 1997, and this evidence was in fact served on 10 July 1997. At a further directions hearing on 4 August 1997 the defendants were given permission to adduce additional evidence in rejoinder by 1 December 1997. The applicant failed to comply with this order and on 8 December 1997 he was granted an extension of time until 9 February 1998.

In the event, however, the Blackspur proceedings against the applicant were discontinued on 12 January 1998, after a “Carecraft” agreement (see paragraph 23 below) was reached between the applicant and the Secretary of State in other proceedings under the CDDA. As part of the settlement, the applicant agreed to pay the Secretary of State's costs of GBP 94,000.