R (on the application of Campbell) (Appellant) v His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales (Respondent)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0162

Parties

Appellant(s)

Matthew Campbell

Respondent(s)

Attorney General for England and Wales

Issue

(1) Is the exercise of the Attorney General’s power to allow or refuse to allow an application to be made for an inquest to be re-opened amenable to Judicial Review? (2) If so, on what grounds may the Attorney General’s exercise of that power be reviewed?

Facts

Mr Geoffrey Campbell was killed in the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. A 2013 inquest concluded the cause of his death was the collapse of the World Trade Centre North Tower after Al Qaeda deliberately flew an aircraft into it. The Appellant, Mr Matthew Campbell, is Mr Geoffrey Campbell’s brother. The Appellant believes that the collapse of the World Trade Centre was caused by the detonation of pre-planted explosives. He seeks to have the inquest into his brother’s death reopened. Under the Coroners Act 1988, the Attorney General (the Respondent) has the power to permit (or refuse to permit) an application to the High Court for an inquest to be reopened. In August 2021, the Appellant sought the Attorney General’s permission to apply for the inquest into his brother’s death to be reopened. The Attorney General declined to grant permission on the basis that the September 11 terrorist attacks had already been fully investigated. In April 2024, the Appellant filed a claim for judicial review of the Attorney General’s decision. The Divisional Court (Stuart Smith LJ and Chamberlain J) declined the Appellant permission to apply for judicial review. The Divisional Court held that decisions of the Attorney General are immune from judicial review. The Divisional Court also held that, even if the Attorney General’s decision were amenable to judicial review, the grounds of review would be limited to dishonesty, bad faith, or exceptional circumstances. The Divisional Court granted the Appellant permission to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court directly (without first appealing to the Court of Appeal).

Date of issue

10 September 2025

Case origin

PTA

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