SWINDLEHURST v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
Giovanni Bonello;Ján Šikuta;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza;Päivi Hirvelä
The applicant, Mr Raymond Swindlehurst, is a British national who was born in 1945 and lives in Lancashire. He was represented before the Court by Royds Rdw, solicitors in London. 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 7 October 1997. In December 2000, the applicant made a claim for widows’ benefits. On 7 December 2001 the applicant was informed that his claim had been disallowed as he was not a woman. On an unspecified date the applicant applied for reconsideration. On 2 February 2002 reconsideration took place and the previous decision was upheld. 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.