The ECtHR ruling in Boyle calls into question the rules surrounding pre-trial detention, say Tim Lawson-Cruttenden and Lacie Kerner
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) gave its judgment in January in Boyle v (App No 55434/00) [2008] All ER (D) 02 (Jan). The case was in relation to a British Army soldier serving as a gunner with the 12th Regiment Royal Artillery stationed in . The applicant was arrested following an allegation of rape in 1999 and was subsequently charged by his commanding officer (CO) with indecent assault under the Army Act 1955 (AA 1955), s 70. Following the charge, the applicant’s CO ordered detention under close arrest pending trial. The applicant argued in the ECtHR that by placing him under close arrest the CO had infringed his right under Art 5 (right to liberty and security of person) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) on the basis that a CO does not constitute an “officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power” and that his pre-trial detention had therefore
