MCKENZIE  v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
David Thór Björgvinsson;Giovanni Bonello;Ján Šikuta;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza
The applicant, Mr Stuart McKenzie, is a British national who was born in 1937 and lives in Kent. 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 14 March 2000. They had no children from the marriage. In June 2002 the applicant made a claim for widows’ benefits under the new system in place as from 9 April 2001. On 26 June 2000 the applicant was informed that his claim had been disallowed as he was not entitled to the benefits at issue because his wife had died before 9 April 2001. The applicant appealed on 25 July 2002 and on 16 August 2002 he was advised that he had no right of appeal. 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.