Story by Telegraph reporters
A Jamaican drug dealer has been spared deportation after it was argued that he would not be able to avoid joining a gang in his home country.
The migrant has a “lengthy criminal history” involving drugs, with his longest sentence being six years in prison, imposed in 2016 after he was convicted of intent to supply a class A drug.
e said he had been involved with a gang and been trafficked to the UK, and that if he went back to Jamaica he would probably fall in with gangs again. He has won an immigration reprieve and been allowed to stay in the UK while he appeals against his deportation order.
The migrant, who cannot be named and was referred to as TWH, was born in Jamaica and came to the UK in 1999 on a visitor visa. In 2005, he was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK as a dependent of his mother.
Although he had a British partner, they are no longer in contact, and his son is now an adult. The migrant has a “lengthy” criminal history that continued for 17 years, from 2006 to 2023.
He was served with a deportation order earlier this year on the grounds that it would be conducive to the “public good” because he was a “foreign criminal”. TWH made a human rights and protection claim, but the Home Office refused this and maintained the deportation order.
Increased risk of reoffending
He appealed against the decision to the First-Tier Tribunal, but the judge dismissed his appeal.
Another appeal was made at the Upper Tribunal, at which a report by Dr Lisa Davies, about his increased risk of reoffending if he were sent to Jamaica, was found to be correct.
The report said: “I assess the risk of relapse into substance use and deterioration in his mental health to be high in the event of removal. His risk of suicide is high in the event of removal … The risk of him being re-trafficked if returned to Jamaica is assessed as high.”
She added: “He would, in my opinion, be at increased risk of a return to drug use to cope in the absence of professional support, anti-trafficking support and the absence of supportive relationships if returned to Jamaica … this would significantly increase his … risk of further exploitation.”
Karim-ullah Khan, an Upper Tribunal judge, ruled that there had been procedural errors in the appeal hearing, because the issues had not been put to the migrant properly, so the case must be sent back to the First-Tier Tribunal to be reheard.
‘Unfair procedure adopted by judge’
He said: “Applying the law to the factual situation, the [First-Tier Tribunal Judge (FTTJ)] did not have the evidential foundation to conclude that the [migrant] would not be at risk of forced criminality in Jamaica because of his recent success in avoiding forced criminality in the UK.
“The appropriate way for the FTTJ to have dealt with this issue was to have raised it with the parties and given them the opportunity to address it … the expert and country guidance evidence does not support the conclusion reached, even though it is mentioned in the decision.
“Accordingly, it cannot be reasonably considered that remission in this case would be pointless because the result or outcome would inevitably be the same regardless of the unfair procedure adopted by the FTTJ.
“For the foregoing reasons, the decision reached by the First-tier Tribunal involved procedural unfairness constituting a material error of law.
“The error is material because it is central to [his] protection claim of re-trafficking and the Article 8 ECHR assessment regarding his reintegration in Jamaica. … the decision of the First-tier Tribunal must be set aside and there is no need for me to go on to consider the other grounds of appeal.”
