Government to fight 7 July ruling

Lady Justice Hallett said sensitive evidence could be edited out for the inquest

The government is to appeal against a ruling by the 7 July inquests coroner, ordering MI5 evidence to be heard in open court.

Lady Justice Hallett ruled last week that she could not exclude the families from the hearings, despite pleas from government lawyers.

They argued that sensitive material concerning what MI5 knew about the bombers could be heard only in secret.

Wednesday was the deadline for the government to appeal.

In a statement, the Home Office said that it had written to Lady Hallett saying that it would seek a judicial review of the decision not to allow closed evidence from the Security Service.

“The government has made clear that it welcomes the coroner’s inquests,” said a spokesman.

“We hope that they will allow the families of the victims to get to the bottom of the tragic events of July 7th 2005.

“This does not mean, though, that we will put lives at risk and undermine our national security by not protecting sensitive material. Therefore, having carefully considered the coroner’s ruling on closed evidence, we have decided to appeal.”

In a 46-page ruling delivered last Wednesday, Lady Hallett rejected the government’s position that the only way to hear key parts of MI5’s evidence was in secret.

Lawyers for the security service argued that she could effectively halt the open inquests to take evidence in closed sessions to prevent sensitive material reaching the public domain.

But Lady Hallett said that she would not order closed hearings because she had a legal duty to allow the families of the victims to attend.

The inquests are scheduled to begin hearing evidence about what MI5 knew about the ringleader of the bombings in the spring.

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