MC GILL v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
David Thór Björgvinsson;Giovanni Bonello;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza;Stanislav Pavlovschi
The applicant, Mr Peter McGill, is a British national who was born in 1947 and lives in Corby. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr C. Whomersley of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. The applicant’s wife died on 26 November 1995. On 28 February 2002 the applicant applied for widows’ benefits. On 19 April 2002 the applicant was informed that his claim had been disallowed as he was not a woman. By a letter of 13 May 2002 the applicant appealed but the appeal was eventually stayed. The applicant did not appeal further as he considered or was advised that such a remedy would be bound to fail since no such social security benefit was payable to widowers under United Kingdom law. The domestic law relevant to this application is set out in Runkee and White v. the United Kingdom, no. 42949/98, §§ 40-41, 25 July 2007.