All Articles: Hardial Singh

High Court bail for vulnerable detainee

The High Court has ordered the release on bail of a detainee who is subject to deportation action but suffers from serious mental health problems. Full judgments at the interim relief stage are relatively unusual so R (RS) v Secretary of State for the ...

20th January 2021 By

What are the Hardial Singh principles on immigration detention?

This post explains the Hardial Singh principles, which are the most important limitation on the Home Office’s immigration detention powers. The Hardial Singh principles take their name from the case of R (Hardial Singh) v Governor of Durham Prison ...

9th July 2020 By

Mixed messages on delays during detention from the High Court

R (SB (Ghana)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2020] EWHC 668 (Admin) is a successful unlawful detention claim in which the High Court was prepared to find a breach of the Hardial Singh principles notwithstanding the claimant ...

31st March 2020 By

Home Office can detain migrants for up to five weeks after law requires that they be released

The Court of Appeal has given judgment in R (AC (Algeria)) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 36. The case is about “grace periods” in unlawful detention claims.  A grace period, as described by Lord Justice Irwin in his judgment, is that period of time allo ...

28th January 2020 By

Supreme Court finds detention of asylum seekers unlawful

The Supreme Court has confirmed in the case of Hemmati v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 56 that the detention of asylum seekers for their removal to other EU states under the Dublin Regulation was unlawful between 1 January 201 ...

27th November 2019 By

High Court upholds failing system of suicide reports in detention centres

The High Court has decided that rule 35(2) of the Detention Centre Rules is not unlawful, despite acknowledging the overwhelming evidence that it has failed to protect the welfare of detainees who are at risk of suicide. In R (IS (Bangladesh)) v Secre ...

18th October 2019 By

Split Court of Appeal finds that asylum seekers were unlawfully detained

Thousands of people may have been unlawfully held in immigration removal centres in recent years, the court of appeal has ruled. This opening sentence from a Guardian article the other day refers to the case of R (Hemmati & Ors) v Secretary of St ...

8th October 2018 By

High Court throws spanner in the works of automatic detention policy

The case of R (Lauzikas) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 1045 (Admin) marks an important development in the law on the detention of European nationals pending deportation. The key finding is that the standards set out in the ...

21st May 2018 By

Risk of absconding is not a trump card in unlawful detention cases

Short and sweet is the best way to describe the High Court’s decision in BS v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 454 (Admin). It comes as a useful reminder that whether detention is “reasonable” depends on a ...

19th March 2018 By

Prosecutions for telling the truth: part deux, with added Hardial Singh

Last year the High Court in JM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 1773 (Admin) made a declaration that “the Defendant may not lawfully require the Claimant, under section 35 of the [Asylum and Immigration (Treatment ...

7th November 2017 By

Another successful unlawful detention claim

R (Ademiluyi) v SSHD [2017] EWHC 935 (Admin) concerns a successful claim for damages by an individual unlawfully detained under immigration powers. It is notable for its restatement of the importance of the third Hardial Singh principle, and as a furt ...

9th May 2017 By

Detention unlawful when Secretary of State faffs around

One of the more pernicious aspects of the so-called automatic deportation provisions in the UK Borders Act 2007 is the provision in s.36 for detention while the Secretary of State considers whether an exception to that Act applies. That is to say you ...

9th December 2013 By