Terrorism control orders

The issue that had to be scrutinised by the court was whether there were reasonable grounds for suspicion. That exercise might have involved considering a matrix of alleged facts, some of which were beyond reasonable doubt, some of which could be established on the balance of probability and some of which were based on no more than circumstances giving rise to suspicion.

The court had to consider whether that matrix amounted to reasonable grounds for suspicion and the exercise differed from that of deciding whether a fact had been established according to a specified standard of proof. It was the procedure for determining whether reasonable grounds for suspicion existed that had to be fair if Art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights was to be satisfied.