EGZ v Hertfordshire County Council and others – Human Rights Act Claim
25th March 2026
George Thomas KC and Chloe Hill successfully defended the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis in this claim for breach of the Human Rights Act Articles 3 and 4.
The Claimant claimed that, over a period spanning 2010-2018, the four defendants (three local authorities and the Metropolitan Police), failed to protect her from child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation by a gang, whilst she was a young person.
There were a number of complex factual and legal matters to be determined, including the application of limitation in HRA claims, the threshold for when the HRA duty applies and for breach of such a duty in the context of a young person who disrupted efforts to protect her.
The trial was listed for 20 days in the High Court, before Mr Justice Bourne KC. At the end of day 16, the Claimant discontinued the claim against the Metropolitan Police and local authority defendants, following the conclusion of the defence evidence, and during the evidence of the Claimant’s Social Care Expert.
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