A settlement has been reached following court action by the family of a primary school-aged child which will see all the child’s records removed from the Prevent anti-radicalisation records. Dan Squires QC, who was instructed by Deighton Pierce Glynn to act for the parents and child, argued that the records could be used against the child in the future, as the Met police did not give any guarantee that the records wouldn’t be included in any Disclosure and Barring criminal record checks when the child becomes an adult.
The aim of Prevent is to pre-empt involvement in terrorism in people who have not yet committed an offence. Whilst external agencies such as the Home Office can request information from the database onto which Prevent officers in the police force enter people’s details, individuals are not made aware that they are recorded. In this case the Met police was threatened with judicial review and agreed to settle and delete the child’s details.
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