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EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   29.9.2006   Press release issued by the Registrar   FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT   3 October 2006     The European Court of Human Rights will be holding a public hearing in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on Tuesday 3 October 2006 at 10 a.m. (local time) to deliver the Grand Chamber judgment in the case of McKay v. United Kingdom (application no. 543/03).   The press release and the text of the judgment will be available after the hearing on the Court’s Internet site (http://www.echr.coe.int).     McKay v. United Kingdom   The applicant, Mark McKay, is a British national who was born in 1983 and lives in Bangor, (Northern Ireland).   On 6 January 2001, at 10 p.m., he was arrested on suspicion of having carried out a robbery of a petrol station in Bangor, County Down. On 7 January 2001, he admitted being responsible for the robbery and was charged.   On 8 January 2001 the applicant made his first appearance in the magistrates’ court, where he instructed his solicitors to make an application for his release on bail. The police officer gave evidence to the court stating that the robbery was not connected with terrorism and that, subject to the proper conditions, he would have no objection to bail.   The sitting resident magistrate refused the application, indicating that the offence was a scheduled offence and that he therefore did not have the power to order release (under section 67(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000 and section 3(2) of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1996).   On 8 January 2001, the applicant applied to the High Court for bail. On 9 January 2001, the High Court heard and granted his application.   On 12 April 2001, the applicant pleaded guilty in the Crown Court to an offence of robbery and was sentenced to two years’ detention in a young offenders’ institution, followed by a year of probation.   The applicant applied unsuccessfully for judicial review seeking a declaration that the legislation in question was incompatible with Articles 5 § 3 (right to liberty and security) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.   The applicant complains that people charged with scheduled offences cannot apply for bail before the magistrates' court; they are required to make an application to the High Court and it may be up to four days later before their application is heard. He maintains that this is in breach of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention as it separates the power to grant bail from the court before which an accused person is brought and leaves the accused person to seek bail elsewhere.   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 8 January 2003 and declared admissible on 30 November 2004. On 17 January 2006 the Chamber relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber in accordance with Article 30[1] of the Convention. A hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 14 June 2006.   ***   Press Contacts  Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Beverley Jacobs (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 21)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.   [1] Where a case pending before a Chamber raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or the protocols thereto, or where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court, the Chamber may, at any time before it has rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber, unless one of the parties to the case objects.