Crime No Reason for Human Rights Law Not to Apply

A drug smuggler was arrested at Heathrow Airport and discovered on X-ray to have ingested 116 bags of cocaine containing approximately a kilogramme of the Class A drug.

The man was immediately remanded in custody by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff. He refused to eat or drink for nearly a week, despite repeated warnings of the dangers to his health of his actions.

He eventually began to manifest the symptoms of acute cocaine poisoning and subsequently died. His widow and father sued HMRC for damages, claiming that his life would have been saved had they had a better policy in place for managing such cases.

HMRC claimed that the common law defence that prevents a person benefiting from their criminal activity applied and the claim was therefore unarguable. The Court of Appeal held, however, that this defence did not apply where the human rights of the victim were concerned. Accordingly, the claim could be made.