SN, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- HIS HONOUR JUDGE JEREMY RICHARDSON QC
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Immigration Law
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In the case before HIS HONOUR JUDGE JEREMY RICHARDSON QC, SN, a citizen of Congo, sought judicial review after the Secretary of State rejected his asylum claim, deeming it 'clearly unfounded.' Permission for review was granted following multiple rejections by lower courts. The Court found the Secretary of State erred by not giving the new evidence due anxious scrutiny and quashed the decision, highlighting that an Immigration Judge should assess the risk of persecution.
Judgment
Mrs Justice Carr :
Introduction
The Claimant, a national of Sri Lanka, challenges the lawfulness of his detention under the Immigration Act 1971 (“ the Act ”) from 11 th July 2010 to 8 th October 2010 and seeks substantive damages accordingly. His claim was issued on 7th January 2011. It was stayed pending the service of amended grounds following the decision of the Supreme Court in Lumba v SSHD [2012] AC 245 . Permission to apply was granted in September 2011.
The Claimant claims in summary :
that his detention was unlawful shortly after the point of detention on 11 th July 2010 : the Defendant did not carry out an appropriate medical examination within 24 hours. If the Defendant had carried out a medical examination it would have revealed evidence that the Claimant had been tortured and the Claimant would have been released;
alternatively, that his detention was unlawful after his first claim for judicial review of the Defendant’s refusal to treat him as making a fresh claim (“the first JR claim”). That claim was issued on 10 th September 2010. From then on the Claimant’s removal was no longer achievable within a reasonable period and detention was in breach of the principles established in R v Governor of Durham Prison ex parte Hardial Singh [1984] 1 WLR 704 . Moreover, by then, the Defendant had obtained independent evidence that the Claimant had been tortured.
The Facts
It is necessary to set out the facts in some detail. The Claimant is a national of Sri Lanka born on 3rd July 1982. In 2005 he applied for entry clearance in this country as a student, which application was refused. A subsequent appeal was dismissed in 2006.
The Claimant alleges that he arrived in the United Kingdom on 16th October 2008. He did so with the assistance of a fraudulently obtained passport. He arrived via France but did not make an asylum application there. Nor did he make an asylum claim on arrival in this country but rather a few days later, namely on 20th October 2008.
The Claimant was interviewed for asylum purposes on 6th November 2008. In that interview he claimed to have been in detention and the victim of torture (including being beaten, burned with cigarettes and raped) in Sri Lanka. He identified the following periods of detention :
June 2004 to March 2005;
3 to 4 days in April 2005;
August 2005 to September 2008.
He showed a number of scars to the interviewing officer.
On 14th November 2008 the Defendant refused his asylum claim by a