New decision of the Court of Appeal on procedural fairness

Having defended the Defendant’s decision in the High Court, Robert Cohen successfully acted for the Secretary of State for Justice in the Court of Appeal in R(Murcott) v Secretary of State [2026] EWCA Civ 436.

The Appellant is serving a prison sentence and is held in Category A conditions. He argued that the Secretary of State acted in a manner that was procedurally unfair when refusing to hold an oral hearing to consider his prison category. His claim was unsuccessful at first instance but he received permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The argument in the Court of Appeal included a suggestion that wherever the decision maker disagrees with expert opinion it might be necessary to hold an oral hearing to ensure procedural fairness. This would have significantly widened the circumstances in which oral hearings are needed. The Court rejected that argument and confirmed that the duty of fairness is fact specific.