R v Anderson [2002] 4 All ER 1089

Plaintiff claimed that it was contrary to Article 6 for the Secretary of State to set the minimum mandatory prison sentence.

HL agreed, but said that since legislation specifically intended to give the Secretary of State this power, all it could do was issue a s.4 declaration of incompatibility.

It said that since the setting of the prison term was as much a part of the trial as sentence, and since the Secretary of State couldn’t be considered an “independent and impartial tribunal” as a member of the exec, this arrangement was contrary to Article 6.