Listen to Leonie Hirst of Garden Court Chambers on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, discussing the legal challenge led by Garden Court barristers to the Home Office’s detained fast track system.
Listen to the full interview by clicking the play button below.
Today Programme, 4 July 2015, BBC Radio 4
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A team of Garden Court barristers led by Stephanie Harrison QC represented claimants in test cases challenging the detained fast track. This legal action led to the announcement last week by the Immigration Minister that the fast track system had been suspended due to the lack of safeguards preventing vulnerable groups being caught up in the system. The Home Office has accepted that the Detained Fast Track (DFT) system was unlawful and that the four lead claimants in the test cases were detained and processed unlawfully within the system.
More information about the case can be found here: Home Office defeated again at the High Court over fast-track asylum process.
Garden Court Chambers barristers were instructed by Toufique Hossain of Duncan Lewis Solicitors who represented the four test case asylum seekers. Stephanie Harrison QC led Shu Shin Luh, Raza Halim and Leonie Hirst of Garden Court Chambers’ Immigration and Public Law Teams. Stephen Knafler QC and Anthony Vaughan acted for the intervener, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA).
