ABSTRACT
Ms Alison Halford, the applicant, was appointed to the rank of Assistant Chief Constable with the Merseyside police in May 1983 and became the most senior-ranking female police officer in the UK. On eight occasions during the following seven years, she applied unsuccessfully to be appointed to the rank of Deputy Chief Constable. In 1990, she commenced proceedings in the Industrial Tribunal against, inter alia, the Chief Constable of Merseyside and the Home Secretary, claiming that she had been discriminated against on grounds of sex. The applicant alleged that certain members of the Merseyside Police Authority launched a ‘campaign’ against her in response to her complaint to the Industrial Tribunal. This took the form, inter alia, of leaks to the press, interception of her telephone calls and the decision to bring disciplinary proceedings against her. She complained that the interception of calls made from her office and home telephones amounted to unjustifiable interferences with her rights to respect for her private life and freedom of expression, that she had no effective domestic remedy in relation to the interceptions and that she was discriminated against on grounds of sex. Comm found by majority (26-1) V 8, 13 in relation to office telephones, unanimously, NV 8, 10 or 13 in relation to home telephone, not necessary to consider the complaint under 10 in relation to office telephones, and no violation of 14+8 or 14+10.
