In a new paper, JUSTICE highlights how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has helped victims of crime and state injustice hold public bodies to account.

The paper sets out examples where the Human Rights Act (HRA), which brought the ECHR into UK law, has been used by ordinary people to launch investigations and inquests, secure compensation and drive long-lasting change.

It features testimony from victims and family members of the Hillsborough disaster, the Gosport hospital deaths, and the Rochdale grooming gangs, among others.  

It also features the experience of those involved in the landmark claim brought by two victims of John Worboys - the serial black-cab rapist - against the Metropolitan Police. Their story is the focus of the recent ITV drama, Believe Me.  

The HRA gave the two victims legal grounds to bring a civil claim against the Met for failing to investigate Worboys, who is believed to have attacked more than 100 women. Without the Act and the rights it enshrines in law, there would have been no way for them to launch the case.

The Supreme Court identified serious errors including failures to record evidence properly, interview witnesses promptly, or link multiple complaints pointing to the same perpetrator. The court ruled the Met had breached the women’s rights under Article 3 of the convention by failing to effectively investigate serious allegations of harm.  

This overturned a long-standing bar on negligence claims against the police, which has since allowed other victims to better hold the police to account. The ruling also prompted police forces across the country to improve their procedures to avoid facing similar claims.

To accompany to paper, JUSTICE commissioned new polling which found that nearly half the British public support remaining in the ECHR, with less than a third wanting to leave.

The survey, conducted by More in Common, asked 2599 adults in the UK for their view, finding that 49 per cent of respondents back remaining in the convention, compared with just 29 per cent who said the UK should withdraw.  

This figure backing the convention is up from 46 per cent in October and 48 per cent in November last year. Across every UK region, more people wanted to remain in the convention than wanted to leave.  

Our victims’ rights paper is the first in a series that will also explore how the ECHR has improved health and social care and its impact on the UK’s security and national interests.

Fiona Rutherford, Chief Executive of JUSTICE, says:  

“The Human Rights Act helps protect ordinary people in concrete and practical ways, and today’s polling shows how widely recognised this is. The stories of the victims we’ve drawn together set out how the HRA has been used to strengthen victims’ rights in recent years, improving police investigations, safety warnings, accountability, and more.  

"Whether you are a victim struggling for justice, or simply concerned about how a family member is being looked after by the state, the HRA is there to help us defend ourselves and those we love when public bodies fall short."

Harriet Wistrich, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Women's Justice and the lawyer who represented two victims of Worboys in their case against the Met, says:  

"The Human Rights Act, which incorporates the rights protections set out in the ECHR, is often the only legal tool we have to hold authorities accountable when they fail to tackle violence against women.  If we left the ECHR, there would be no Human Rights Act.

In the Worboys case, we relied on the HRA to establish a new legal precedent: police should be held responsible when they fail to investigate serious crimes - and victims who suffered as a result may be entitled to compensation. If we leave the ECHR, that principle disappears with it, letting the state off the hook and denying victims access to justice."

The HRA’s role in securing justice for Hillsborough and Rochdale victims:

The paper details how families of Hillsborough victims used the HRA to secure a fresh investigation into the disaster, helping them challenge the false narrative that Liverpool supporters were to blame for the deaths of 97 fans.

The second inquest found the victims were unlawfully killed, with serious failures by police and other authorities contributing to their deaths, vindicating the families’ campaign for truth and justice.  

It also sets out how the victims of Rochdale grooming gangs used the HRA to successfully challenge repeated police failings that prevented their abusers from being brought to justice. This case contributed to increased scrutiny of child sexual exploitation, with Greater Manchester Police significantly increasing investigations in this area.  

What are the HRA & ECHR?

The ECHR is an international treaty that sets out the basic rights and freedoms that everyone should have, like the right to vote, freedom of expression, and the right to a fair trial.  

It was first drafted in 1949-1950 in response to the horrors of the Second World War, led by British MP Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe with input from Winston Churchill.  

In 1998, the UK Parliament passed the HRA, which brought the rights set out in the ECHR into UK law – giving ordinary people a way to enforce these rights in UK courts.  

The HRA requires public authorities to act in a way which respects rights, guided always by the limits set out elsewhere in UK law by Parliament.  

It places duties on public authorities like the police and local authorities to take reasonable steps to safeguard lives, properly investigate suspicious deaths, have a system to punish those who killed people unlawfully, and to not undermine the fairness of legal proceedings, for example.

Today’s paper on the HRA and victim’s rights is the first in a series that will also cover the HRA’s role in health and social care and the HRA’s impact on the UK’s security and national interest.  

Notes to editors:

• For queries or interview requests please contact press@justice.org.uk or 07956 641 829.  
• ‍Click here to read the paper, From Hillsborough to Rochdale: How the ECHR has helped victims.  ‍
• Click here to download the poll data tables.  
• Quotes in the paper from Claire Waxman, the now Victim’s Commissioner (p.22), ‘Lewis’ (p.23), Alan Brecknell (p.25), Sharon MacFadyen (p.26), Robert Logan (p.42), Richard Caseby (p.47) and Imtiaz Amin (p.50) are new. Quotes from ‘Kate’ (p.27), Ben’s sister (p.29), Steve Kelly (p.41), Sharon Hardy (p.44) were already in the public domain and have been reused with permission.  ‍
• JUSTICE is a cross-party legal charity working to build a fairer UK justice system within everyone’s reach. Over its 67-year history it has transformed the legal landscape for the better, led by evidence, expertise, and a focus on practical solutions. For example, key legal bodies we now take for granted such as the Ombudsman, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board were all proposed and supported into being by JUSTICE.

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