Although the B&B at the centre of the case, owned by Susanne Wilkinson, lost its appeal, the court said its marriage policy should not be regarded as ‘direct discrimination’ against same-sex couples. The Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, said in his ruling that he would prefer to treat such a policy as indirect discrimination, which can be lawful if the policy is justified. But he said he ‘reluctantly’ had to follow a previous ruling in a similar case which held the policy to be direct discrimination, which does not allow for any justification.