Murder in Hackney of Altab Ali in June 1978

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025621

I note you seek access to the following information:

I am looking for information related to the case of the death/attack in Hackney in June 1978 of Hackney resident Ishaque Ali.

1. I want to know the names of all of the attackers?
2. What sentences the attackers received ?
3. What is the case file reference number was ?
4 Also exact (or near exact) time of the attacked and if possible the exact (or near exact) time Mr Ali died.

Decision

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) provides public access to information held by public authorities. The Act details certain requirements, one of which, is that public authorities have an obligation to confirm or deny, when permitted, whether the information requested is held. Further to this, public authorities have a duty to communicate this to the requester. The Act also lists a number of exemptions, meaning that requests can be refused if a public authority has a good reason why they cannot comply with the request. If any or all parts of a request are refused then a written refusal notice must be sent to the requester.

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40(2)(3) - Personal data

Reason for decision

Section 40(2)(3) - Personal data - Section 40 is both an absolute and class based exemption which means there is no requirement on the MPS to consider whether there is a public interest in disclosure. When this exemption is claimed, it is accepted that harm would result from disclosure. Section 40(3A)(a) states that public authorities will not disclose information which constitutes personal data and if the disclosure would contravene any of the Data Protection principles.

To disclose all the requested data could publicly reveal information about an individual or individuals which would contravene Data Protection principles. The Data Protection Act 2018 defines personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. There are six data protection principles set out in section 34 of the DPA 2018 and under Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The first principle requires personal data to be processed in a ‘lawful and fair’ manner. The basis for determining what constitutes lawful and fair is outlined under section 35 of the DPA. Under section 35(2) it states:

• the data subject has given consent to the processing for that purpose, or
• the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for that purpose by a competent authority.

It is important to note that the release of the data will not be used for a law enforcement process.

Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:

• There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
• The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
• The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.

Having considered your request, I have found that question 1 is personal data, in relation to the accused. By means of a legitimate interest test I have considered the release of the personal data, and I have found that:

Criminal Offence Data
• The names of the accused constitutes personal criminal offence data. The Information Commissioner (the ombudsman for the Act) guidance on the release of personal criminal offence data under the Act states:

“Due to its sensitivity, the conditions for processing criminal offence data are very restrictive and generally concern specific, stated purposes. Consequently, only two are relevant to allow you to lawfully disclose under FOIA or the EIR. They are similar to those identified above for special category data. These are:

• consent from the data subject; or
• the processing relates to personal data which has clearly been made public by the individual concerned.

If a relevant condition cannot be met, you must not disclose the information as disclosure would be unlawful and therefore in contravention of principle (a).”

• The conditions required to release personal criminal offence data are not present in this case. The release of the requested personal data does not accordingly satisfy a legitimate interest and cannot be disclosed under the Act.

I would like to inform you that I will only disclose some of the requested information. Question 2, 3 and 4 will be disclosed under the section titled ‘Disclosure.’
However, I will not disclose the answer to Q1. This data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 40 of the FOIA.

Disclosure

Q2 - What sentences the attackers received?

On 21/09/1979 the accused were found guilty of Assault with intent to rob and ABH – 6 months for each offence to run concurrently.

Q3 - What is the case file reference number was?

CR201/78/149

Q4 - Also exact (or near exact) time of the attacked and if possible the exact (or near exact) time Mr Ali died.

Time of offence was 0230hrs – Time of death was 0332hrs