| John Murray v United Kingdom |
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 |
| Decided 25 January 1996 |
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| Full case name | John Murray v United Kingdom |
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| Case number | 41/1994/488/570 |
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| Chamber | Grand chamber |
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| Nationality of parties | United Kingdom |
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| Court composition |
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President
Rolv Ryssdal |
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John Murray v United Kingdom was a legal case heard by the European Court of Human Rights in 1996 regarding the right to silence in the United Kingdom, especially the legality of the reduction in the right so as to allow for adverse inferences to be made.
The European Court of Human Rights is a supranational or international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a contracting state has breached one or more of the human rights provisions concerning civil and political rights set out in the Convention and its protocols.
The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the world's legal systems.
John Murray was one of eight people arrested on 7 January 1990 in Belfast, Northern Ireland under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989; he was cautioned as specified in the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1988. Following his arrest and over twelve interviews at Castlereagh, totaling over twenty-one hours in the next two days, Mr Murray refused to answer any questions despite being warned each time that "a court might draw such [common sense] inference[s] as appeared proper from his failure or refusal to do so".
Belfast is a city in the United Kingdom, the capital city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland and second-largest on the island of Ireland. It had a population of 333,871 as of 2015.
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments".
At the trial in May 1991 before the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, sitting without a jury, Mr Murray chose not to give evidence. As part of his decision the judge drew adverse inferences against the defendant under Articles 4 and 6 of the 1988 Order. Mr Murray was found guilty of aiding and abetting the false imprisonment of a police informer and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.
The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is the appointed official holding office as President of the Courts of Northern Ireland and is Head of the Judiciary of Northern Ireland. The present Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is Sir Declan Morgan. His counterpart in England and Wales is the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and in Scotland his equivalent is the Lord President of the Court of Session. The position was established with the creation of Northern Ireland in 1922.
Adverse inference is a legal inference, adverse to the concerned party, drawn from silence or absence of requested evidence. It is part of evidence codes based on common law in various countries.
Mr Murray appealed to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland and lost on 7 July 1992. He had applied to the Commission in 1991, the case was referred to the ECtHR in 1994, heard on 20 June 1995 and the Court gave its opinion on 8 February 1996. Several groups filed written submissions including the Committee on the Administration of Justice, Amnesty International and the Northern Ireland Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights.
The Committee on the Administration of Justice is an independent human rights organisation in Northern Ireland with cross-community membership. It was established in 1981 and lobbies and campaigns on a broad range of domestic and international human rights issues. CAJ seeks to secure the highest standards in the administration of justice in Northern Ireland by ensuring that the Government complies with the rule of law and with all its obligations in international human rights law.
Amnesty International is a London-based non-governmental organization focused on human rights. The organization says it has more than seven million members and supporters around the world.
Mr Murray complained that his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights had been breached, notably his right to silence during questioning and at trial, that the inferences from his silence were an integral part of the decision to find him guilty, the lack of access to a lawyer at the beginning of his detention and the different rights under the law in England and Northern Ireland because of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act. In the Convention these complaints refer to Article 6 paragraphs 1, 2, and 3c and also Article 14.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953. All Council of Europe member states are party to the Convention and new members are expected to ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.
Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights is a provision of the European Convention which protects the right to a fair trial. In criminal law cases and cases to determine civil rights it protects the right to a public hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal within reasonable time, the presumption of innocence, and other minimum rights for those charged in a criminal case.
The Commission found the reductions to the right of silence were not in breach of Article 6; the right was not absolute. The Court decided thus as Mr Murray was able to remain silent and this was not a criminal offence or contempt of court. It also found that the inferences could not be regarded as unfair given the presence of sufficient safeguards, the repeated warnings given during the interviews, the prima facie evidence against the accused, and Mr Murray's refusal to provide any explanation, and that the inferences were not a significant part of his conviction. His lack of early access to a lawyer was incompatible with the concept of fairness as it had placed the accused in a situation where his rights might be irretrievably prejudiced.
Mr Murray was awarded £15,000 towards his costs and expenses.
The courts' decisions were by majority – 14–5 in regard of no breach of Article 6(1) and 6(2), 12–7 in regard of a violation of 6(1) with 6(3c), and unanimously that it was not necessary to examine the applicant's complaint of a violation of 6(1) and 14.
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