The High Court blames “an over-sight of a court clerk” to explain why “there was no record of this case having been heard…This matter should have been listed and published on gov.uk but due to this over-sight this was not done. This has highlighted a serious training issue which will be addressed as a priority to ensure it does not happen again.“
Part of a series looking at Secret Courts
On 17/06/2021 at 15:31 I e-mailed the court to request access to a bankruptcy application. I was grateful to receive a link to the hearing which I watched the following day. The judge reserved judgment.
On 21/07/2021 I e-mailed the court again with the following:
Thank you for sending me the link for the below hearing.
Deputy ICC Judge Paul Greenwood said during the hearing that he would be handing down judgment the “week after next”, ie before the end of June. I note that the matter hasn’t been listed for a hearing so I wonder if I could check whether the judgment was handed down in private instead?
Thank you,
Daniel
4-weeks later, on 18/08/2021, I was told inter alia:
Judgment was handed down in this case orally so there is no written judgment available.
I replied same day requesting:
Could you confirm the date and start time of the hearing that the judgment was handed down please.
I further e-mailed on 23/08/2021:
In anticipation of your response a careful search was carried out on all Rolls Building cause lists issued in June, July and August. It is with some disappointment that the judgment handing down does not appear to have been listed. I would be grateful if you could confirm the date and time of the hearing so a further check can be carried out.
These last two e-mails were not replied to. I rang the court on 14/09/2021 and was advised that as an order had been made on 07/07/2021 it was assumed this had been when the judgment had been handed down.
I was told that the hearing had not been shown on the cause list.
I complained on 14/09/2021 requesting a copy of the transcript.
I received the following response:
Dear Mr Cloake,
Subject: Complaint received on 14th September 2021
I write further to your complaint lodged by e-mail on 14th September 2021.
I will respond to each of your points for ease of reference:
1. I would like the court to explain what reasonable steps it took to ensure the hearing was of an open and public character.
Due to an over-sight of a court clerk, the matter had not been listed on CE file (the court’s electronic filing system) nor added to the daily list and the listing officer was not notified of the hand down date or that the Deputy Judge had agreed to sit. Unfortunately, this meant there was no record of this case having been heard on 7 July when the oral hand down took place. This matter should have been listed and published on gov.uk but due to this over-sight this was not done. This has highlighted a serious training issue which will be addressed as a priority to ensure it does not happen again.
2. I would like the court to explain why the case was not listed publicly.
I hope the above has covered this point. It was not a deliberate act for this case not to be published.
3. I would like the court to provide, at its own expense, a copy of the transcript of the hearing.
I spoke to Deputy ICC Judge Greenwood on 14th September who has advised me that he can provide a full written copy of the judgment on or by 21st September 2021. As soon as this is ready I will send you a PDF copy by e-mail to xxxxxxmouseinthecourt.co.uk. This will include all the information that was handed down in court should you have been able to attend.
I would like to apologise that the high standards you should have expected were not met on this occasion.
If you are unhappy with this response you may write to my manager, Mr xxxx, by e-mail at xxxxjustice.gov.uk, however I will be in touch again shortly with a copy of the full judgment.
Yours sincerely,
I received the judgment on 22/09/2021. Some 11-weeks after it had technically been handed down. You can read my write-up on it here – “P2P Lender Assetz was ‘innocent victim’ to Fraud as borrowers declared bankrupt“
Mouse in the Court 
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