Right to Privacy Denied by the House of Lords: R v Khan
Abstract
In R v Khan (Sultan) the House of Lords had to consider the legality of a conviction based on evidence obtained by means of an electronic listening device attached to a private house without the knowledge of either the owners or occupiers. This invasion of privacy was said to have two aspects: first, the placing of the device on the premises of the occupier without his consent; and secondly, the act of listening to the defendant's conversations. The House of Lords held that the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the ‘ECHR’) were ‘relevant’ to the exercise of the trial judge's discretion under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 whether to exclude the evidence. However, their Lordships emphatically rejected the proposition that an identifiable right to privacy existed under English law.
Citation
Breslin, J. (1997), "Right to Privacy Denied by the House of Lords:
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1997, MCB UP Limited