Mr B

Mr B arrived at Heathrow airport in April 2015 without a valid immigration document. He was arrested and later pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court to an offence under the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004. He was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment.

In October 2015, following his release, the Home Office granted Mr B asylum with five years’ leave to remain. He has since been granted indefinite leave to remain.

A thorough CCRC review of the case has found that Mr B had a statutory defence available to him under section 2 of the 2004 Act, namely a ‘reasonable excuse’ for failing to produce an immigration document.

This defence would quite probably have succeeded but Mr B was not advised of its existence. Consequently, he entered a guilty plea that deprived him of the opportunity to present that defence.

There was a real possibility that the ‘reasonable excuse’ defence would ill succeed on appeal and that the Crown Court would not uphold the conviction.

The CCRC referred the conviction in January 2024.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in March 2024.