Greg Ó Ceallaigh KC and Alex Schymyck, of the Garden Court Chambers Immigration and Public Law Teams, were instructed by James Packer, Sarah Mills and Annie Taylor at Duncan Lewis Solicitors.
Press coverage in The Telegraph, Free Movement
The below content is reproduced from a Duncan Lewis press release.
An innocent man wrongfully exiled after a case of mistaken identity left him accused of crimes he did not commit has been reunited with his family.
The applicant (A) was turned away at the airport for a flight home to the United Kingdom and told he had been deported years earlier due to an extensive criminal record — an allegation that was completely false – after taking a short holiday with his family.
Despite clear evidence that A had no criminal record and had never been in trouble, the Home Office doubled down on its error, claiming that A was actually a repeatedly convicted deportee using a false identity.
His legal team has now successfully challenged the Home Office’s error, securing his return to the UK after nearly seven months of unlawful exile.
The client had been waiting for a decision on his EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) application when he left the UK for a short holiday. On his return, he was denied re-entry.
Over the past four years, the A had persistently contacted the Home Office regarding his pending EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) application. The Home Office cited delays due to concerns about criminal charges against him, which required further investigation. After A provided proof of a clean criminal record, he believed the matter was nearing resolution. He then took his mother for a short holiday overseas. Upon attempting to re-enter on the way home, he was removed from the plane and informed of his exclusion from the UK – based on a deportation order linked to the extensive criminal record of an entirely different person.
A immediately explained he had neither a criminal record nor adverse immigration history. The Home Office initially acknowledged that his file had likely been confused with that of another individual sharing a similar name, date of birth, and nationality and advised him to await the separation of the two files. However, A then received a shocking letter stating that the Home Office had concluded there was no error, and he was the deportee using a different identity, apparently based on a photograph in the deportee’s file.
The limited information from the Home Office about the deportee made it challenging to demonstrate that A was in fact a different individual. This task was further complicated by the deportee’s history of using false identities.
Following a judicial review claim brought by Greg Ó Ceallaigh KC and Alex Schymyck on behalf of James Packer and his team at Duncan Lewis, the Home Office conceded that the client was not the individual excluded from the UK, and allowed him to reunite with his family. The Home Office accepted an error led to the conflation of the two files. The team was able to show that at times that the real deportee had been in prison or immigration detention, A had in fact been studying in University and going daily to the gym and his local shops.
Although the cause of this error is under investigation, it is likely linked to the implementation of a new database, despite warnings about potential inaccuracies. In January 2024, the Home Office implemented changes to improve data accuracy. However, this led to “merged identities,” where individuals’ records were incorrectly linked. A leaked document highlighted that while the changes aimed to enhance accuracy, they adversely affected thousands due to pre-existing errors.
A newspaper article published by The Guardian on 14 March 2024 revealed that:
- Major flaws in a huge Home Office immigration database have resulted in more than 76,000 people being listed with incorrect names, photographs or immigration status.
- Leaked internal documents reveal the scale of the database fiasco at the Home Office … The problem, which involves “merged identities”, where two or more people have biographical and biometric details linked incorrectly, is leaving people unable to prove their rights to work, rent housing or access free NHS treatment.
- Government sources confirmed that an investigation was under way by the Information Commissioner’s Office, which is considering whether the failure represents data breaches.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched an investigation into these IT incidents, focusing on the Person Centric Data Platform and Atlas systems. Despite these errors, there appears to be no clear plan to resolve the issues for the affected individuals.
A is now seeking substantial damages due to the distress and inconvenience caused by his unlawful exclusion from the United Kingdom and separation from his family and home.
Greg Ó Ceallaigh KC, of the Garden Court Chambers Immigration and Public Law Teams, together with Alex Schymyck, were instructed by James Packer, Sarah Mills and Annie Taylor at Duncan Lewis Solicitors in this case.
