Government concedes unlawful Windrush deportation: Winston Knight to return after 12 years of destitution

The Home Secretary has formally acknowledged that Winston Knight, now 64, is a member of the Windrush generation and was unlawfully deported to Jamaica in 2013. In a consent order lodged with the Upper Tribunal today, she has undertaken to urgently issue entry
clearance and facilitate his return to the UK.

Mr Knight arrived from Jamaica in 1966 at the age of six and, like all Citizens of the UK and Colonies resident here on 1 January 1973, was granted indefinite leave to remain. In 2013, after 47 years of uninterrupted life in London, he was unlawfully deported to Jamaica. With no
friends, family, or home, he has spent the past twelve years homeless, destitute and exposed to an extremely volatile environment in Kingston, Jamaica.

Nina Kamp, Consultant Solicitor at Duncan Lewis Solicitors who represented Mr Knight, said:

“Mr Knight’s case ranks among the gravest   Windrush injustices we have seen—not only because he was excluded for twelve years, but because the Home Secretary clung to an indefensible position until the very last moment. Even after publicly conceding widespread failings when the Windrush Scandal broke in 2018, she refused to rectify Mr Knight’s unlawful exclusion, needlessly prolonging and compounding his suffering.

The Home Secretary’s concession vindicates what Mr Knight has insisted for over a decade: he is a member of the Windrush generation, and his exclusion from the UK since 2013 was unlawful. This admission—forced only after judicial review proceedings and hours before the final hearing—comes far too late. Mr Knight has suffered unimaginable harm being homeless in an extremely volatile environment for over a decade with no support. The physical and psychological toll is profound and will take years to repair. Astonishingly, the Home Secretary has still offered him no apology for the historic wrong her department inflicted.”

Background

On 29 December 2023, the legal team made urgent representations to the Home Secretary demanding revocation of Mr Knight’s deportation order and his immediate return to the UK. Following significant delay, the Home Secretary refused the request on 23 August 2024. Mr Knight subsequently brought judicial review proceedings to challenge the Home Secretary’s decision.

The claim argued that:
1. As a Citizen of the UK and Colonies resident before 1973, Mr Knight was exempt from deportation (Immigration Act 1971, s. 7);
2. The Home Office ignored the acute evidential obstacles faced by Windrush citizens; and
3. Continuing exclusion breached Mr Knight’s Articles 8 and 14 ECHR rights (private/family life and anti-discrimination).

The Upper Tribunal granted permission to proceed with the judicial review challenge on 7 March 2025. Hours before the final hearing, on 15 May 2025, the Home Secretary conceded that Mr Knight is a member of the Windrush generation, that his deportation and exclusion from the UK since 2013 were unlawful, and agreed to arrange entry clearance and his urgent return to the UK.

The Home Secretary has offered no apology or recognition of the profound harm she caused.