Overview
- Mr Justice Richard Smith refused an interim injunction, finding the claimants had not shown the relief was needed now and describing the present evidence as thin.
- The application sought to compel access for a professionally managed ground‑penetrating radar survey of a shared garden behind a former tailor’s premises in Bethnal Green.
- The push followed information from Hayley Frais, who says her late father, tailor Percy Chaplin, believed a strong smell at his shop in 1969 indicated a burial at the site.
- The Metropolitan Police maintain the location does not meet their evidential threshold for a search, noting earlier 2022 and 2024 operations at Stocking Farm found nothing.
- Homeowners opposed the bid over intrusion and distress, and the judge criticised aspects of the family’s conduct, which included alleged deceptive attempts to access the property.