Reported Cases

SUPREME COURT

(DN (Rwanda)) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2020] UKSC 7 (20.02.2020)
Paul represented the Claimant in a test case establishing that where detention was based on a deportation decision which was initially upheld by a lower Court and only later found to be unlawful, detention is unlawful, and the Claimant may bring a claim for false imprisonment. The case was unsuccessful before the High Court and the Court of Appeal, but the Supreme Court overturned the judgments of the lower courts and decided the matter in the Claimant’s favour. In this case, Paul worked closely with leading counsel, tenaciously pursuing a novel point of law to the Supreme Court where the case was ultimately successful. As a result of this decision, the Claimant was able to bring a claim for damages, which would not otherwise have been possible.

JB (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 9
Paul successfully acted as junior counsel (as a solicitor advocate) in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The case involved a challenge to the UK government's decision to designate Jamaica as a "safe country" under section 94(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. This designation meant asylum claims from Jamaican nationals were deemed "clearly unfounded," leading to fast-track detention and deportation. The case, which ultimately reached the UK Supreme Court, revolved around whether the government had properly assessed the risk of persecution in Jamaica, particularly for homosexuals, and whether the designation was lawful. The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the government's appeal, upholding the Court of Appeal's decision that the designation of Jamaica was unlawful, and that the Claimant’s detention.


COURT OF APPEAL

PR (Sri Lanka) & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 998
Test case on the application of the "second-tier appeals test" (under section 13(6) of the
Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007) to immigration and asylum cases.

R (Rudewicz) v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWCA Civ 499 [2012] 3 WLR 901
A High profile case challenging the grant of an exhumation licence in respect if a venerated Polish priest who was in the process of beatification.

HIGH COURT
SS v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 1402 {Admin) (05 June 2019)
Represented the client in a High Court challenge to the lawfulness of the refusal of his fresh asylum claim and his subsequent immigration detention. The High Court granted permission for judicial review due to the importance of the issue. The Home Office tried to depart from existing country guidance case law by relying on an untested Country Policy Information Note (CPIN) in relation to whether a person could be safely returned to Iraq without certain documentation. The issue was whether the case law could be superseded by such untested evidence. The Court found that the two short sections of letters relied on did not amount to clear cogent evidence that documents were easily obtainable in Iraq by a returnee such as to displace existing country guidance from the specialist Tribunal. Detention was found to be unlawful and the High Court ordered reconsideration of the fresh claim as the decision was due to a flawed policy based on insufficient evidence.

Carlos, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 986 (Admin) (29 April 2021)
This case involved a judicial review challenge to the refusal of an asylum claim by an Angolan national and to the lawfulness of the Claimant’s two periods of detention. Paul was instructed due to his expertise in crossover claims dealing with immigration and public law detention challenges. The case was also important as it involved consideration of whether a fresh claim for asylum could succeed, based on a real risk of suicide involving a subjective fear, even if not objectively well founded. The case argued that the objective medical evidence itself turned a subjective fear into an objective one if the medical evidence showed that a forced return would lead to a real risk of suicide.

Faulkner, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2005] EWHC 2567
Case concerning the lawfulness of detaining a person under immigration powers immediately following their completion of a custodial sentence and the failure to give reasons for detention.

Other reported cases include:

Court of Appeal
IH (Sudan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWCA Civ 745

RM (Zimbabwe) & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWCA Civ 824

AM (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWCA Civ 1064

KU (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 107

El Gazzaz v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 532

Saliu & Anor v The Entry Clearance Officer [2021] EWCA Civ 1847

KM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 693

High Court
L-B, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWHC 3251 (Admin) 

Chen, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2009] EWHC 116 (Admin) 

Ngirincuti, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWHC 1952 (Admin) 

Hatega, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] EWHC 1980 (Admin)

HM Coroner for the Eastern District of London, R (on the application of) v Sutovic [2009] EWHC 1974 (Admin) 

R (Chawaf) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWHC 801 (Admin)


Upper Tribunal (Judicial Review)
Kaienga, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (IJR) [2015] UKUT 272 (IAC)

Unreported cases

· Successful challenge, before the High Court in which Paul acted as sole counsel, to a refusal of a fresh claim on the basis of breach of in a medical claim and lack of treatment leading to article 3 breach on return.

· Securing £20,000 damages in a false imprisonment claim against the Home Office for a client who was detained following completion of his criminal sentence owing to the failure to provide a release address following a successful bail application, and a failure to formulate a release plan. (One of many successful civil claims securing substantive damages. Paul has succeeded in every case in which he has been instructed in securing substantive damages against the Home Office).

· Winning a deportation appeal for an EU citizen with a British child who was facing deportation for committing a serious offence.

· Securing family reunion at appeal for an adult child of a refugee on the basis of exceptional compassionate circumstances.

· Acting in a case of negligence / breach of persona data against the Crown Prosecution Service.

· Acting in a test case concerning the granting of Trafficking Leave to persons subject to a deportation order.

· Succeeding in a medical case on the basis of article 3 (conceded at hearing before the First Tier Tribunal) on the basis that treatment in the country of origin was not available and accessible and that removal would have dire consequences.

· Securing refugee status following successful appeal before the Upper Tribunal, successfully appealing a negative determination from the first-tier tribunal, on the basis of risk as a convert to Christianity.

· Representing a client in a claim for damages for unlawful detention following his mental deterioration in detention due to the failure to undertake timely medical assessments and challenging the failure to refer him for identification as a victim of trafficking, where a positive identification would have required immediate release from detention.

· Challenge to the imposition of a condition of ‘no recourse to public fund’ in respect of a person granted leave to remain on the basis of private life in the UK.

· Challenge to the decision to extradite a Spanish National following the issuing of a European Arrest Warrant.

· Successful application for UK ancestry visa.

· Challenging successfully by judicial review the failure to issue a visa to the dependant child of a person with limited leave in the UK who was stuck in their country of origin to the failure to issue the relevant paperwork and vignette.

· Successful asylum appeal in relation to Sri Lankan client who the Home Office had been excluded from refugee protection under article 1F.

· Successful pre-action challenge to negative conclusive grounds decision in relation to a Victim of Trafficking forcing the Home Office to withdraw and agree to re-make their decision.

· Successful appeal to the Court of Appeal in a judicial review claim regarding the refusal of an Afghan fresh claim where the Upper Tribunal had refused permission at an oral hearing.

· Successful deportation appeal on the basis of family life for the parent of a disabled child with a British citizen mother.