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Mother challenges ‘outrageous’ council snooping over school place
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent5 Nov 2009
A council which used legislation aimed at terrorists to spy on a family to find out if they lived in a school catchment area was today accused of being “ludicrous and outrageous”.
Jenny Paton, a 40-year-old businesswoman, launched landmark legal action after being put under surveillance by Poole Borough Council.
The authority used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was originally intended to help police and security services fight crime and terrorism, but has now been branded a “snoopers' charter”.
Mother-of-three Ms Paton described the council's three-week surveillance as “ludicrous and completely outrageous”. She added: “I think we all need to be protected from the way local authorities use the Act — this is about saying, No more'.” Ms Paton has taken the council to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, sitting in central London.
Before the hearing she said: “Most people never know that they are under surveillance. We are one of the few who did and there are 12,500 people every year. We feel we have a rare opportunity to shed light on some of the deeply disturbing facts. The IPA normally sits in secret and it is rare to have this hearing in public.” Outside court lawyer James Welch said: “We are asking this tribunal to declare that surveillance powers used to watch Ms Paton were unlawful.” The tribunal heard that Ms Paton applied for a place for her youngest child at a school in January last year and was accepted by the council.
At the time her family had two properties — one inside the catchment area and a second outside. They moved to the second home after the application had been accepted. The council decided to investigate after receiving complaints from a third party.
Ms Paton's counsel Gordon Nardell called the surveillance “an entirely futile exercise.” He told the hearing: “This case ... is about the scope of local authority power to conduct surveillance on individuals. Having done all the logging and examining, the local authority was no further forward in deciding whether [the family] were entitled to the school place.”
Lord Justice Mummery said the council accepted there had been “no fraud, or dishonesty or disinformation involved in the application” for the school place. The case continues.
Reader views (4)
A member of the public made an allegation (later was shown not to be true). What would some have said if Poole Council had failed to investigate? That might have been considered Maladministration.
As far as I am aware, observation from the Public Highway was all that was done in this case. That was not introduced by RIPA.
I never heard of anyone prosecuted for "Obtaining a Service by Deception" for lying on a School Application, but they could be.
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON, 05/11/2009 23:41
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This goes higher than council level, this is about a dangerously invasive Totalitarian corrupt socialist government. There is no room for the word 'free' in any aspect of communist politics.
An election pledged vote on the EU Constitution? These vermin are laughing at you people with all the contempt they hold for you.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 05/11/2009 15:10
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Anyone who believes these powers were brought in to combat terrorism is at best to be considered a fool. They were brought in exactly for this purpose, otherwise why would councils be allowed to use them? Simples!
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 05/11/2009 14:03
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Faced with a collapsing economy it is clearly these kinds of powers that are being used to increase local authorities manages empires, giving them more pay and so bigger pensions.
Clearly, there is no justification to any person about this level of snooping by an authority directly paid for by the people that it is snooping on.
Worse snooping is a 'lightweight' term what they are doing is a breach of your privacy and breaks a number of human rights when it is not used for effective policing of the state to maintain law and order.
No more jobs for the boys sack the lot of them in all councils and return this power to where it belongs the police and the security services, alone.
- June, London, 05/11/2009 13:57
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