LCG & Ors v OVD & Ors

Mr William McCormick KC & Ms Beth Grossman (instructed by Harding Evans LLP) for the Claimants Mr Dirk van Heck (instructed by direct access) for the 1st & 5th Defendants Mr Michael Smith & Mr Harry Bithell (instructed by Woodford Wise Solicitors) for the 2nd & 3rd Defendants Mr Ellis Sareen (instructed by M & M Solicitors) for the 4th Defendant Hearing dates: 22nd-26th May & 6th-9th June 2023 ____________________

These have come to be known as the ' Murray factors', but they are illustrative, and not exhaustive, of ' all the circumstances of the case '. In a case such as the present, relevant factors would also include the content of the pictures, the circumstances in which they were created and held, and how and why any claimant had and asserted an entitlement to prevent or control their accessibility.

Mr C2 and his brother thought this was designed to harass them, break their relationship and make them withdraw the legal proceedings. They believed Mr D1 and Mr D2 were responsible ' as the text language and style is what [Mr D2] would write '.

Mr C2's statement says that, as a result of this threat, he did not press charges or sue. He also says that these photographs are ' the exact same photographs shown to me by [Mr D1] on 14 th October 2018 ', so he concluded that Mr D1 had not in fact deleted them, but had passed them to Mr D2 for the purposes of the March telephone call, and to Mr D4 for the purposes of the August Instagram post.

Mr C2 says that he heard that Mr D2 boasted to others about sending this. He says that on the same day 'cars were following me and were parked outside my gate for long periods of time and taking video recordings of my house'. He reported this to the police on 18 th November, but did not press charges because he feared for the welfare of his family and considered Mr D4 to have a reputation for violence.