What happens when police seize confidential journalistic material following execution of a search warrant? Jessica Parker explains
- Examines the law relating to the seizure of confidential material following execution of a search warrant.
- Discusses the case of R (On the Application of LXP) v Central Criminal Court Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2023] EWHC 2824 (Admin), involving the seizure of journalistic material and culminating in judicial review.
- Highlights the challenge faced by those subjected to searches in seeking to protect confidential material that the investigator had no power to seize.
The law relating to confidential material seized during the execution of a search warrant is likely to interest financial crime lawyers as much as their colleagues at the coalface, given the increasing use of searches by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). There have been more in the past six months than in the previous director’s entire tenure.
A judgment towards the end of last year examined a number of thorny issues arising from the execution of a search warrant in relation to a person whose
