Mr DY

On 29 September 2006, Mr DY, a Camerooonian national, attempted to depart from Manchester Airport on a flight to Toronto, Canada. He was arrested after presenting a stolen French passport to airport officials.

Mr DY admitted that the passport was not his and that he had obtained it from an agent in Cameroon from where he had started his journey two days previously. He said he had used the stolen passport as means of fleeing from persecution in Cameroon.

He was charged with possession of a false identity document contrary to section 25 (1) of the Identity Cards Act 2006.

Mr DY’s lawyers did not offer any advice about the statutory defence available to him under section 31 of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999. He was advised to plead guilty.

Mr DY subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on 26 October 2006. He did not appeal against his conviction or sentence.

His asylum application was initially refused by the Home Office but his appeal before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal was allowed and he was granted asylum with leave to remain in the UK until 16 October 2013.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in October 2012.

The CCRC referred Mr DY’s conviction to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that he had a statutory defence available to him under section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in relation to the charge of possession of a false identity document.

The legal advice provided to Mr DY deprived him of that available defence. On the evidence available it was probable that the defence would have succeeded and, as a result, there was a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would set aside his plea of guilty and conclude that in all the circumstances it should not uphold his conviction;

The CCRC referred the conviction in April 2013.

The Court of appeal quashed the conviction in July 2013.