Individuals under investigation by law enforcement bodies have a reasonable expectation of privacy up to the point they are charged, the Court of Appeal has confirmed. Dismissing an appeal by a news agency barred from revealing the identity of a US businessman identified in documents concerning a bribery probe, the court ruled that the fact that an individual is the subject of a criminal investigation is genuinely of a different character from allegations about the conduct being investigated.
Simon LJ added that to be suspected of a crime is damaging whatever the nature of the crime: \’It is sensitive personal information and there can be little justification for a hierarchy of offences giving rise to suspicion; although I would accept that there may be some cases where the reasonable expectation of privacy may be significantly reduced, perhaps even to extinction, due to the public nature of the activity.\’
Full article: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/suspect-under-investigation-has-reasonable-expectation-of-privacy-coa-rules/5104320.article
