Terrorism

The powers created by Sch 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 were far reaching and, so far as the power to detain was concerned, affected the liberty of the person.

Accordingly, they had to be, in principle, strictly construed and it was incumbent on the officer to inform the person that he was being detained and why.

The fact that detention was not used in the vast majority of cases where a Sch 7 examination was considered necessary did not affect the correct construction of the powers since detention might be required. The only purpose of any examination had to be to determine whether a person was a terrorist within the meaning of s 40(1)(b). In principle, how and the extent to which a person appeared to be a terrorist could provide a lawful justification for the Sch 7 examination. However, all would depend on what the officers knew and why they had decided to use their powers.