(Hearing: 19 November 2025 – Deputy District Judge Hutchin)


1. Recusal Application

Judge

The observer would not conclude that, as a judge in this case, there is any direct attack on my own professional world. I do not practise in civil matters, including human rights claims. That is not the subject matter of this case.

I am sitting as a Deputy District Judge, which is different from my private practice. Anything I may have learned in private practice will not affect my decision today, which will be made solely on the facts of this case.

In these circumstances, I do not consider that a fair-minded observer would conclude there is any real possibility of bias. The suggestion that, by being a member of what is described as the “Brummy Street Guild”—said to profit from the system—I would be protecting other professionals, is rejected. It does not make sense.

This is a claim for an injunction against Mr Malik. Issues about "the system" or the "legal professional world" do not arise.


Defendant

Your Honour, your refusal to acknowledge the mandatory procedures for determining a recusal application—despite my direct question as a litigant in person—is noted and will form Ground 1 of my immediate appeal to the Court of Appeal, based on denial of justice and my right to a fair trial.

(Defendant sits)


Judge

When dealing with a litigant in person, I will first hear from Counsel for the Claimant on the basis of the application. You will then have an opportunity to respond.


2. Claimant’s Submissions

Claimant’s Lawyer

Thank you, Judge. I appear on behalf of Abri Group, a community benefit society registered under the Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. It is a registered charity providing social housing.

The Defendant suggests the Claimant has been dissolved. That is incorrect. Abri Group Ltd does not exist as a company because the organisation has been registered as a community benefit society since 31 December 2020.