Mr DM

Mr DM was convicted in August 2006 of failure to produce a satisfactory immigration document and received a sentence of three months’ imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in October 2008.

Mr DM, a Somalian national, was arrested after failing to produce an immigration document when he was approached by an Immigration Officer at Heathrow Airport.

He subsequently pleaded guilty to an offence under the Immigration and Asylum (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004.

Following review, the CCRC considered that in light of the decision in the case of Thet v Director of Public Prosecutions (2006), Mr DM had a statutory defence to the charge of failing to produce an immigration document, namely a “reasonable excuse”.

Somalia had not had a passport issuing authority since 1991 and the UK government had not recognised Somali passports since July 2003.

The CCRC concluded that it was an abuse of process to prosecute Mr DM because he had both an unanswerable defence and was an asylum seeker who had been prosecuted in circumstances which deprived him of any defence based on Article 31 of the Refugee Convention.

Consequently, there was a real possibility the Crown Court would agree to vacate Mr DM’s guilty plea and then order a stay of proceedings or, if he was re-prosecuted, that he would be acquitted.

The CCRC referred the conviction in August 2010.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in December 2010.