Court of Appeal finds Portuguese national has been unlawfully detained for 15 months

Thursday 14 April 2016

The Court of Appeal has found that Mrs Gomes, a Portuguese national with a permanent right of residence, had been detained without lawful authority for 15 months. Leonie Hirst of the Garden Court Chambers Public Law Team, led by Raza Husain QC, acted for the successful appellant.  

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Mrs Gomes, a Portuguese national, entered the UK in 1999 with her husband. In July 2010, she was detained pending deportation. Mrs Gomes won her appeal against deportation in January 2011, after which the Secretary of State did not exercise the right to appeal within the prescribed ten days. Therefore, the appellant was entitled to be released. However, Mrs Gomes remained in detention until March 2012. The Secretary of State sought to argue that the original authority for detention was still valid and that no fresh decision to detain was required.

In the judgment handed down by Lord Justice Moore-Bick this week, the Court reaffirmed the importance of a restrictive approach to the use of the Secretary of State’s power to detain.

More information can be found in the full judgment.

Leonie Hirst and Raza Husain QC were instructed by Nina Rathbone-Pullen of Wilson Solicitors LLP.

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