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."