The planned deportation of 25 convicted criminals to Jamaica without giving them access to a lawyer violated their ‘constitutional rights’, the High Court heard today.
The detainees were due to be deported along with 17 others on a flight to Kingston on February 11, but a last-minute legal challenge saw the Court of Appeal block the deportation after campaigners said more than half of the 42 booked for the flight were denied access to lawyers.
Detention Action said that due to coverage problems for O2 users, caused by a faulty phone mast, detainees held in two Heathrow centres were not able to call a lawyer in that period.
The charity claim no effort has been made to give them alternative SIM cards, despite the government being made aware of the issue in January.
Chris Butler, for Detention Action, said this violated the constitutional right to legal representation, which extends to all present in the country.
It was said the men had been convicted of ‘serious crimes’, including manslaughter and firearms offences.
An eleventh-hour legal challenge by campaigners (shown in Whitehall on February 10) saw the Court of Appeal issue an order barring the deportation of more than half of those scheduledto be flown to Jamaica
Home Office policies state that those marked for deportation should be given a minimum of five working days’ notice to seek legal advice.
‘This case is about the constitutional right of access to a lawyer,’ Mr Butler said.
‘No more, no less.’
Following the Court of Appeal decision, Boris Johnson had renewed his attack on the judiciary by announcing plans to speed up reform of judicial review.
Mr Butler said: ‘This is an example of judicial review working as it should.
‘The Court of Appeal held there was arguable case that the removal would remove the ancient right of access to lawyer,’ said Mr Butler.
‘Any government worth its salt appreciates that judicial review is a cornerstone of our constitution.
‘A disappointment when the court went against it doesn’t justify an attack on the constitution and threats to dismantle it.’
The court heard that the mobile signal failure affected not only those set for deportation, but anyone in the Colnbrooke and Harmondsworth detention centres to access a lawyer.
Mr Butler said the charity is seeking to establish the right of detainees to a working mobile phone with access to a lawyer.
David Manknell, for the Home Office, argued that because the original order blocking the deportation only applied to a specific flight, the proceedings were ‘academic’.
He said: ‘Given the nature of the relief that was granted, this was in effect not temporary relief requiring a return date, but a final order.
‘It prevented removal, with finality, of the specified individuals on the flight in question,’ said Mr Manknell.
A map shows the three closest phone masts to Colnbrooke and Harmondsworth detention centres. The charity Detention Action successfully argued that offenders at the two centres near Heathrow were unable to get legal advice due to a lack of phone coverage for O2 users caused by one of the phone masts malfunctioning
Reshawn Davis, 30, who has a baby with his British wife, was detained and told he would be removed to Jamaica on February 11 following a robbery conviction, but was not among those who were deported on that date
‘The Secretary of State’s view is that the underlying claim is academic.
‘It is academic, that flight is gone, the situation has changed on the ground and alternative measures had been put in place.’
The Home Office will make an application for the claim to be dismissed on the basis it is academic by 28 February.
Downing Street had issued a strongly-worded statement on February 11, shortly after the flight departed, criticising the courts and vowing to appeal the deportation ban on the 25 other convicts.
No 10 said it made ‘no apology for trying to protect the public from serious, violent and persistent foreign national offenders’ as it hit out at the judicial system for leaving the taxpayer with ‘an even bigger bill’ following the Court of Appeal ruling.
It claimed detainees had ‘ample access’ to other methods of communication during the mobile network outages, including free sim cards upon request, access to landlines and the internet and face-to-face legal surgeries.
Among those who were safeguarded from deportation were one offender convicted for manslaughter, one firearms offence and seven violent offenders.
The Home Office added: ‘We will be urgently pursuing the removal of those who were prevented from boarding the flight due to a legal challenge over a mobile network failure.’
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘The legal process for removing these offenders, which has included repeated appeals and judicial reviews, has already cost the British public tens of thousands of pounds.
‘The taxpayer will now be left with an even bigger bill and the prospect of convicts who are considered to pose a threat to the UK being granted bail while this matter is resolved.
‘We make no apology whatsoever for seeking to remove serious foreign national offenders and will be urgently appealing.’
The Government already promised to review the judicial review process and is likely to fast-track its efforts following the latest deportation setback.
Reshawn Davis was among those who avoided deportation on February 11 despite being told that he would be sent back to the country of his birth.
The 30-year-old, who came to the UK when he was aged 11 and until recently was living in northwest London, was convicted of robbery a decade ago.
He has not committed any crime since serving his two-month prison sentence, but claimed he has been treated as if he ‘tried to kill the Queen’.
His wife Tonique Kerr told the Victoria Derbyshire Show that he was now back at Colnbrook detention centre waiting to hear his fate.
‘No one said anything we don’t know what’s happening,’ she said. ‘We haven’t heard anything and they haven’t told him anything either.
‘He’s not actually not been back to Jamaica since he came to this country so he doesn’t know anyone; he’s 30 and spent most of his life here.’
Thought to be among the deportees are a 23-year-old man, who arrived in Britain aged five, jailed for 15 months for drug offences and a 40-year-old man jailed for seven years for a stabbing.
The court order covered anyone held in two detention centres close to Heathrow – Colnbrooke and Harmondsworth.
The judge granted the order without a court hearing following an urgent application on paper by Detention Action.
The charity argued that some of the detainees at the two Heathrow centres did not have a functioning mobile phone, following issues with an O2 phone mast in the area.
But the order did not apply to Brook House detention centre, close to Gatwick, although campaigners said detainees there had experienced similar problems.
According to Detention Action, around 56 people were being held in the two Heathrow detention centres.
It is not known exactly how many people were held in Brook House.
Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Home Office must make a deportation order where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more.
This is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would breach someone’s human rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention.
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) said the flight had ‘forced’ families apart, adding that the deportees were ‘British in every meaningful way and if the law allows those people to be exiled, it needs to change.’