Breathtaking
How judge attacked bid by migrant (who’s been kicked out twice) to use human rights laws to stay in Britain
AN EXASPERATED judge yesterday attacked a failed asylum seeker’s bid to use human rights law to stay in Britain as ‘breathtaking’. Nigerian Gbenga Sunday has already cost the taxpayer more than £100,000 after being kicked out of the country twice, only to re-enter Britain within months.
But in an astonishing example of the immigration merry-go-round, his lawyers went to court yesterday to argue he should be allowed to stay here – this time because he said he was in a relationship with a Lithuanian woman.
As a result, they claimed, sending Mr Sunday home would breach his right to a private and family life under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.
The application for judicial review was dismissed out of hand by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, who said the applicant’s attempt to use human rights laws to prevent him from being flown back to Nigeria for a third time was ‘breathtaking’.
‘This is an incredible case,’ said the judge, at a High Court hearing in London. ‘This is a case where the claimant has not been removed once but twice. This is the third time. What on earth is going on?
‘Why should the court waste any more public money?’ He added: ‘This case is so ... utterly without merit that no further public money should be wasted in dealing with it.’
Mr Sunday, 38, first came to the notice of immigration officials in 2004 when he applied for indefinite leave to remain in Britain.
This was refused the following year and he was served with illegal entry papers telling him he would be sent home. He then launched an asylum application, but withdrew it within a year.
In 2005, he was put on a plane to Nigeria by the Home Office and told
‘What on earth is going on?’
he would not be allowed back in. However by 2006 he had returned to the UK and made a second asylum application. This too was withdrawn. The same year he was put on a plane and sent home.
Despite twice having been removed, he was able to return to the UK within a year in November 2006.
In 2007, he was arrested when he tried to open a bank account with a forged passport.
Again he was served with illegal entry papers and told he would be kicked out. But instead of being put in detention he was granted bail and went on the run.
He lived freely in the UK until this year when he was arrested by chance during a raid by immigration officers. He was set to be deported for the third time in May, but launched yet another appeal just weeks before his flight date.
He claimed he had started a relationship with a woman from Lithuania. Marriage to an EU national can confer rights to live in Britain.
But this appeal was rejected by officials because they found no evidence of any relationship.
His lawyers then applied for a judicial review in June, which was refused, but Mr Sunday applied again in July and the case finally came before a judge yesterday.
Last year nearly 3,200 migrants were given the right to stay in Britain as a result of Article 8 rulings.
Home Secretary Theresa May has made changes to immigration rules which will make it harder for migrants to use Article 8 as a reason to remain in Britain.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: ‘This demonstrates why we’re determined to deal with these cases more quickly. Our tough new immigration rules will prevent individuals from abusing the legal process with frivolous claims. We are pursuing his removal as a matter of urgency.’