Johnson, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for The Home Department: Admn 17 Jul 2014

The court was asked whether the Claimant’s proposed deportation to Jamaica, following his conviction and imprisonment for a very serious criminal offence, involves a violation of article 14 in conjunction with article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’), contrary to the Human Rights Act 1998 (‘the Human Rights Act’). The discrimination is said to arise because the Claimant did not become a British citizen when he was born in Jamaica as the illegitimate child of a British citizen, whereas he would have been a British citizen if he had been a legitimate child, and a British citizen cannot be deported.
Held: ‘ (1) that there has been a violation of article 14 in conjunction with article 8 of the ECHR, because the Claimant is currently being treated differently on the ground that he was illegitimate, and that such treatment is not justifiable; (2) there is no sustainable separate ground of complaint on the basis of immigration status; (3) it is not possible to interpret the provisions of section 162(5) of the 2002 Act to permit the Defendant to establish a scheme permitting persons to opt into section 50(9) of the 1981 Act as amended; (4) the parties should liaise to attempt to agree remedies to give effect to this judgment, failing which a short further hearing will be arranged; (5) the ‘clearly unfounded’ certification of the Claimant’s human rights claims should be quashed.’

Judges:

Dingemans J

Citations:

[2014] EWHC 2386 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedGenovese v Malta ECHR 11-Oct-2011
The applicant was illegitimate, born to a British mother and a Maltese father. Paternity had been established scientifically and in judicial proceedings. The father refused to recognise his son on the birth certificate, and the applicant’s mother . .

Cited by:

At AdmnJohnson, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for The Home Department CA 26-Jan-2016
The appellant was Jamaican by birth, but had lived here with his British father since the age of four. Had his parents been married, he would have had British nationality. As he grew to an adult he was convicted on several serious matters. He now . .
At AdmnJohnson, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 19-Oct-2016
The court was asked: ‘Is it compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights to deny British citizenship to the child of a British father and a non-British mother simply because they were not married to one another at the time of his birth or . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Immigration, Human Rights

Updated: 17 June 2022; Ref: scu.535130