AC-2024-BHM-000217 - [2025] EWHC 2510 (Admin)

There are two sources of contemporaneous evidence because hand-written notes were made by each of Ms Barden and Mr Anderson. In addition, Ms Barden wrote an attendance note to her instructing solicitors when she returned to chambers, on the same day as the hearing. Each was cross-examined in some detail on their respective notes.

In the weeks after the hearing, the Claimant and Mr Khan wrote on three occasions to the Magistrates’ Court: 3^rd and 13^th June 2024 and 15^th July 2024. These documents are not contemporaneous but they are documents which were produced quite close in time to the hearing. They record the Claimant’s concerns about the outcome of the hearing.

The Claim Form is dated 23^rd August 2024 and was issued on 30^th August 2024. The Leicester Magistrates’ Court acknowledged service of the Claim form on 17^th September 2024. Both contain signed statements of truth.

The Magistrates’ Court’s acknowledgment of service contained an account of the arguments, the decisions, and the events of 29^th May 2024. It was signed by Mr Altaf Essat who gave his position as ‘Legal Advisor’. This information became more important in the case than might have been expected.

The witness statements were produced much later, pursuant to the order and directions of Eyre J on 1^st April and 10^th July 2025. The witness statements are dated between the end of April and the beginning of June 2025, about twelve months after the hearing. I heard the evidence of the three witnesses over a full day on 30^th September 2025, sixteen months after the hearing.

From these principal sources of evidence I will consider what has been established and what remains contentious by reference to: