Immigration

The claimant Afghani national issued judicial review proceedings, seeking a declaration that his immigration detention had been unlawful and damages for false imprisonment. The Administrative Court held that, on the proper construction of para 16(2) of Sch 2 to the Immigration Act 1971, an erroneous view of the law, as opposed to an erroneous view of the facts, could not amount to “reasonable grounds for suspecting” that a person was liable to removal. Accordingly, the claimant’s detention had been unlawful. However, it had not been unlawful on the principles in R v Governor of Durham Prison, ex p Singh [1984] 1 All ER 983.