Alex Blair

Comms

See below the news and media items Alex has coordinated through his communications and human rights work. NOTE - some of these pieces are not written solely by Alex nor are they his intellectual property.

Garden Court North Chambers •

High Court grants judicial review for disabled Somerset resident to challenge council tax reduction scheme

On 9 January 2026, the High Court granted a disabled Somerset resident, Andy Mitchell, permission to proceed with his judicial review challenging the lawfulness of Somerset Council’s tax reduction scheme.

Permission was given on all grounds (discrimination, rationality, and compliance with the public sector equality duty). The claim will proceed to a subs...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Government’s ill-considered proposals to limit jury trials will result in irrevocable damage for no tangible gain

Garden Court North’s Nina Grahame KC will join barristers at a Parliamentary Lobby Day at Westminster on 3 February to discuss the proposed jury reforms. Credit: HY-DP / Shutterstock.

Garden Court North’s crime team unequivocally opposes the Government’s proposal to restrict the right to a jury trial, a proposal to irrevocably damage a fair, tried and tested system providing justice to all members of society.
BBC News •

Garden Court North's Pete Weatherby KC calls on the Government to adopt amendment to Hillsborough Law

Amendment 23, which has cross-party support, removes the Government's exemption for secret services in Hillsborough Law's Duty of Candour, as called for by bereaved families from the Manchester Arena bombing in a letter to the Prime Minister last week.

MI5 officials misled the Manchester Arena Inquiry regarding intelligence it held about the attacker, running an "organisational false narrative".
BBC News •

Manchester Arena bereaved families say MI5 must be fully included in new law on cover-ups

Families bereaved by the Manchester Arena bombing say MI5 failed them and must be fully included in a new law designed to stop cover-ups in public life.In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, seen by the BBC, they ask the prime minister: "How many times must MI5 show that it cannot be trusted before something is done?"MI5 was found by a public inquiry not to have given an "accurate picture" of the key intelligence it held on the suicide bomber who carried out the attack which killed 22 people and injur...
The Guardian •

Hillsborough families decry ‘bitter injustice’ that no officers will face disciplinary proceedings

The families of those who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster have said it is a “bitter injustice” that no police officer will ever be held accountable for a catalogue of failings set out in the final report of the police watchdog after a 14-year investigation.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that 12 police officers, most of them senior, would have faced disciplinary cases of gross misconduct if they were still serving.However, no former officer will face disciplinary pr...
Garden Court North Chambers •

“Further vindication of what we already knew”: IOPC releases report on police’s mishandling of Hillsborough disaster

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has today (2 December 2025) published its report into the mishandling of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, at which 97 Liverpool Football Club supporters were unlawfully killed.

The IOPC’s report stated that 12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases over Hillsborough if they were st...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Metropolitan Police firearms officer lawfully killed Giedrius Vasiljevas, inquest jury finds

An inquest jury has found that Giedrius Vasiljevas was lawfully killed by a Metropolitan Police firearms officer, who fatally shot Giedrius at his home in Dagenham on 23 November 2023.

Giedruius, a 40-year-old Lithuanian man, had a history of alcohol use and mental ill health, for which he had unsuccessfully been trying to get help from his GP and othe...
The Guardian •

Ban on Palestine Action is repugnant and should be lifted, high court told

The proscription of Palestine Action is a repugnant, unprecedented and disproportionate interference with the right to protest, the high court has heard.On the first day of a legal challenge to the ban brought by co-founder Huda Ammori, her lawyer said the group had been engaged in an “honourable tradition” of direct action and civil disobedience prior to proscription.Raza Husain KC told the court in London on Wednesday: “There are reasons of profound importance as to why, in the 32 executive or...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 2 Report finds “inexcusable” mistakes and delayed lockdown led to 23,000 avoidable deaths

The Covid-19 Public Inquiry has published its second report investigating the government decision-making in the UK’s response to the pandemic, which determined that “inexcusable” mistakes and delays in imposing a lockdown led to approximately 23,000 avoidable deaths in the first wave leading up until 1 July 2020.

Baroness Hallett DBE, the Chair of the Inquiry, made 22 key findings about the emergence of...
The Independent •

Boris Johnson could face legal action over pandemic failings after damning report

Boris Johnson was branded a “coward” as it emerged he could face legal action over the failures during the pandemic that led to 23,000 excess deaths – as families who lost loved ones to Covid call for him to be barred from public life.After the Covid inquiry found that thousands of lives could have been spared if the country had locked down a week earlier and that the culture at the heart of No 10 contributed to the government’s pandemic failings, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK gr...
ITV News •

Dad who took his own life after council seized home 'was treated like number'

Alistair's brother and father spoke to ITV Granada Reports presenter Gamal Fahnbulleh. The family of a dad-of-four who took his own life after his home was subjected to a Compulsory Purchase Order say he was treated "like a number on a spreadsheet". Alistair Taylor, 34, was found dead at his home in 2024 after Blackpool Council issued him with the legal order just one year after his barbershop lease was also brought to an end at a local market.
The Guardian •

‘There is a gap where Alex should be’: the young woman who lost her life in a neglectful prison system

“There is a gap or a space where Alex should be,” Stacie Davies said. “Wherever I am, she’s not there.”

At just 25 years old, her daughter, Alex Davies, was found dead in her segregation cell at Styal prison in Cheshire on Christmas Eve last year. She had been sent to prison after pleading guilty to offences including criminal damage and possession of a knife, which she had committed while in mental health crisis. The expectation was that when Alex was sentenced, she would receive a hospital order,...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Court of Appeal grants Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori a judicial review

On 17 October, the Court of Appeal confirmed that Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori could pursue a judicial review against the organisation’s proscription by the Home Office.

Three judges, including the Lady Chief Justice, Sue Carr, upheld Mr Justice Chamberlain’s decision to grant the judicial review in July. In September, the Home Office appealed on the...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Three years after his inquest, Awaab's Law comes into force

After years of campaigning, Awaab’s Law has today (27 October 2025) been passed into law.

It honours the legacy of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who tragically died in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2020 due to “prolonged exposure” to mould in his home, a coroner concluded. Awaab’s family and NHS staff repeatedly reported the issue to the social housing provider, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, but the problem remained unresolved.

Garde...
BBC News •

Awaab’s Law: Why so many UK homes still have a mould problem

Kyle (not his real name) had been living in his three-bedroom house in Greater Manchester with his pregnant wife and two children for a few weeks when he first noticed the mould in the bedroom.He wiped it away but when it returned quickly, he realised there was a serious problem."It spread through the bedrooms and all through the walls,” he recalls. “Plug sockets used to blow because the water had gotten into them.”Clothes, toys, beds and televisions had to be thrown away. The family ended up sl...
Garden Court North Chambers •

Georgia Barter’s inquest concludes in finding of unlawful killing resulting from domestic abuse

Georgia Barter died at Kings College Hospital on 26 April 2020, after being violently assaulted by her partner on or around 5 April 2020 and taking a fatal overdose. She had been subjected to around a decade of domestic abuse by her partner.

The inquest into Georgia’s death found that she was unlawfully killed and died as a result of domestic abuse. This...
The Guardian •

Legal challenge to Palestine Action ban can go ahead, court rules

A legal challenge to the ban on Palestine Action can go ahead next month after the court of appeal rejected the Home Office’s attempt to block the case.In a blow to the government, on Friday, three judges, led by the lady chief justice, Sue Carr, upheld Mr Justice Chamberlain’s decision to grant the Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori a judicial review of the group’s proscription under the Terrorism Act.The ban, the first on a direct action group, came into effect on 5 July, categorising it...
The Guardian •

Georgia’s story: how a domestic abuse victim’s suicide was ruled an unlawful killing by her partner

On 26 April 2020 Georgia Barter, a long-term victim of domestic abuse, died in hospital after taking a fatal overdose of painkillers. Last week, in an extraordinary verdict, a coroner ruled that Georgia, 32, was unlawfully killed by her abusive partner.A court heard how GPs, nurses and police officers all had chances to intervene in Thomas Bignell’s violent campaign against Georgia, but failed to do so.At the conclusion of the hearing, there were gasps in the courtroom. It is believed to be only...
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