Question
Under terrorist legislation made in relation to Northern Ireland in the late 1970s, a lawful arrest merely required 'suspicion' of an offence on the part of the police rather than 'reasonable suspicion'. The ECtHR held that, even under an emergency situation, the ECHR, art 5(1)(c) required there to be reasonable suspicion, meaning that there had to be evidence of 'facts or information which would satisfy an objective observer that the person concerned may have committed the offence'. Under the particular circumstances in this case, therefore, the arrests had been carried out contrary to the ECHR, art 5(1).