The applicant had spent 30 months in administrative detention pending removal but was described as having ‘a long history of criminal offending. His convictions variously include two counts of indecent assault, robbery, burglary, assault on a police officer and a drugs offence. A number of his offences were committed whilst he was on bail or on licence. It seems that for at least part of the time he had become addicted to crack cocaine. In the circumstances he was, as it seems to me, properly assessed both as posing a high risk of offending and also as posing a high risk of absconding. Further, bail applications in the interim had been refused by immigration judges.’ He sought his release.
Held: Davis J ordered A’s release after having spent 30 months in detention. The Defendant in operating a policy which applied a presumption in favour of detaining foreign national prisoners had acted unlawfully. However, if the Defendant could show, on the balance of probabilities, that the Claimant would in any event have been detained applying Hardial Singh principles, the fact that an unlawful policy was being operated would not make the detention unlawful.
Davis J said: ‘I think that the time has come in this particular case to say that enough is enough here. The relevant legal proceedings are likely to go on for a long time, so far as concerns Mr Abdi, potentially even running into years. It is time now, in my view, that Mr Abdi be released from detention and I so order. Rejecting, as I do, [the] argument that the court should ignore any period of time, whether in the past or hereafter to be spent in detention, whilst Mr Abdi is pursuing his appeal and any other related litigation, I do not think that it can now be said that Mr Abdi will be or is likely to be removed within a reasonable time; and I think that by now a reasonable period of time for detaining him has elapsed.
I am entitled, in reaching that conclusion, to have at least some regard to the already very long period of time he has already spent in detention: that is, the 30 months. As I have said, I have also borne in mind, in deciding this matter, the fact of his ongoing appeals, the risk of absconding and the risk of re-offending. All the same, as to this last point it should at least be borne in mind that the gravity of his criminality is of a lesser order than that in the Court of Appeal case of A . [His Counsel] also told me that not only is Mr Abdi of course now older but also he has, in the light of his long detention, broken himself of his drug addiction.’
Judges:
Davis J
Citations:
[2009] EWHC 1324 (Admin)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Rostami, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department QBD 7-Aug-2009
The claimant had been detained for nearly three years while his application for asylum was determined. He sought judicial review, saying that the detention was unlawful. Whilst in detention he had self harmed and said: ‘I will stay in detention for . .
Cited – MC (Algeria), Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department CA 31-Mar-2010
The claimant challenged his detention under the 1971 Act, now appealing against refusal of judicial review. His asylum claims had been rejected, and he had been convicted of various offences, including failures to answer bail. He had failed to . .
Cited – MH, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department CA 14-Oct-2010
The claimant complained that his administrative detention for over 40 months had been unlawful. He now appealed against a finding that it had been lawful save for the final two months.
Held: The appeal failed. The period of time for which he . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Immigration, Human Rights
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.347069
