District Judge Margot Coleman has ruled that computers seized by the NCA in 2013 should not be returned to British Finnish computer scientist Lauri Love.
Love, who brought the case under the 1897 Police Property Act, said:
"Although the court has not in this instance exercised its discretion in my favour, I am thankful to have had a hearing and the opportunity to submit the issues in question to the consideration of the law. Sometimes applications to resolve tedious and stressful states of affairs are successful and sometimes there must be perseverance and attempts to achieve the required solutions with further effort or complementary strategies.
"This application was not made because of the value of some computing hardware, though it was at the time all that I had, and remains of relatively high value when compared to my means. Nor was it about my personal and private data that was taken and denied from me, although it was all I had, and remains of perhaps inestimable sentimental and practical value to me. This case was, is, and shall be about establishing that the use of strong information security practices including cryptography cannot in and of itself overturn the rights of individuals and groups to private property and personal data.
"We live in a society that has long accepted that justice delayed is justice denied, and that punishment should follow due process and not be exacted by the process itself. After five and a half years, and profound depths of agony and concern for myself and my loved ones, I would like to begin moving along and finding out what else the world has in store for me, and what I can contribute back to the world."