Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

2The first set of access conditions is fulfilled if—

(a)there are reasonable grounds for believing—

(i)that a serious arrestable offence has been committed;

(ii)that there is material which consists of special procedure material or includes special procedure material and does not also include excluded material on premises specified in the application;

(iii)that the material is likely to be of substantial value (whether by itself or together with other material) to the investigation in connection with which the application is made; and

(iv)that the material is likely to be relevant evidence;

(b)other methods of obtaining the material—

(i)have been tried without success; or

(ii)have not been tried because it appeared that they were bound to fail; and

(c)it is in the public interest, having regard—

(i)to the benefit likely to accrue to the investigation if the material is obtained; and

(ii)to the circumstances under which the person in possession of the material holds it,

that the material should be produced or that access to it should be given.