Clause 104 - Search warrants: premises
Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Andrew Mitchell (Shadow Minister, Economic Affairs; Sutton Coldfield, Conservative)
Amendment No. 287 would require a specific-premises warrant and an all-premises search warrant to be issued by a High Court judge or a circuit judge, as opposed to a justice of the peace. Amendment No. 147 deals with the danger of searches being unlawful unless the amendment is included in the Bill.
It has been a principle of English common law for hundreds of years that an individual's privacy in his premises can be invaded only where a warrant to enter and search has been judicially sanctioned. For that reason, the warrant must be crystal clear about the extent of the invasion that is permitted to take place. The all-premises warrant, in particular, represents a significant erosion of that principle, because the identity of the premises to be searched will be not be specified.
At present, it is not uncommon for the police to enter and search premises belonging to a target and to discover from material found there that the target occupies or controls other residential or commercial premises where further valuable material could be stored. Typically in that situation, they return to court and obtain a warrant to enable them to enter and search the new premises. The need to obtain a new warrant creates further paperwork and delays the investigation, affording the target the opportunity of removing material from the new premises before an additional search warrant has been granted. The ability to obtain an all-premises warrant would obviate the need for the police to return to a justice of the peace in such circumstances. However, because of the enhanced invasion of privacy involved in an all-premises warrant, it should, at the very least, be scrutinised most carefully by a senior judge, such as a High Court judge or a circuit judge, before it is granted. That is the key purpose of the amendment, which operates by inserting a new clause into PACE. The Government's proposal to amend the existing section 8 will work only if justices of the peace are to grant the new species of warrant.
With our probing amendment we wish to ensure the correct safeguards for the privacy of our constituents. We are wary of a Government who have allowed a number of intrusive powers, particularly in Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, which we considered in towards the end of the last Session. We want the Minister to reassure us that our fears are unwarranted.