A MERSEYSIDE claimant judicially reviewing a Knowsley Council decision was the first case issued out of the North West’s new Administrative Court, LDP Legal has learned.

The Manchester-based court was officially opened last week by High Court Judge Mr Justice Langstaff.

But Liverpool lawyers were the first to use the landmark new facility.

It is hoped the North West Administrative Court, one of only four nationwide outside London, will hear 600 cases a year.

The first case was been brought by Rainhill-based Hogans, who are representing a patient detained under the mental health act.

He claims Knowsley Council should refund between £15,000 and £30,000 it allegedly deducted to pay for aftercare once he was released.

Local authorities are not allowed to charge for the so-called Section 117 aftercare packages after a House of Lords ruling in the Stennett case in 2002, which Hogans was also involved in.

The claimant’s solicitor, Caroline Sims, told LDP Legal: “It was clear that some people had been charged unlawfully for aftercare. Local authorities were meant to find patients and reimburse them.

“These cases were all brought within a six-year period of the Stennett case being decided, but our client missed the boat, so to speak. When he came to us, he had asked the council to reimburse him, but they had knocked him back.”