Legal News

The residents of Fred Wigg Tower in Leystone, east London who had gone to the High Court to prevent surface to air missiles being stationed on the roof of their 17 storey residential tower block during the Olympics have lost their case when a judge ruled that the residents did not have an arguable case.
The tenants had raised concerns that the missile base above their heads could put them at a risk of a terrorist attack.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD), security service and police had said that there was no credible threat as such and that the stationing of the missiles was both 'legitimate and proportionate'.
The Fred Wigg residents applied for permission to seek judicial review, protesting there has been a 'disproportionate interference' with their human rights, and they were not consulted fairly and properly over the selection of site for the ground-based air defence system.
Their lawyers argued during a one-day hearing yesterday that those who wanted to move out should at least be relocated in hotels by the MoD for the duration of the Games, or a gantry should be erected away from the block to take the missile system.
But their legal challenge was rejected by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, sitting at London’s High Court, who said the law and the facts militate against the claim for judicial review. In his judgment the MoD’s voluntary engagement with the community and residents in the matter were immaculate he added.
He said that the residents were under 'something of a misapprehension' about the nature of the equipment to be deployed and the risks it brought with its deployment.
Yesterday the counsel for the residents told the court it was the unprecedented placement of a military base or missile site in peace time on English soil had brought them to the court.
He said that the residents had a fully justified fear that installation or deployment of the missile system on the roof of the Fred Wigg Tower gave rise to the additional risk that the tower itself may become the focus of a terrorist attack.
He accused the Defence Secretary of breaching Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect an individual’s right to private and family life and the peaceful enjoyment of their home.
Counsel, representing Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, said top Ministry of Defence officials, UK intelligence agencies and the Metropolitan Police had all rejected the possibility of an attack on the Fred Wigg block.
He added that the residents had no legitimate expectation that they would be consulted on issues involving the defence of the realm and national security and that their human rights were never breached.