Mr EN

Mr EN was convicted in January 2012 of production of a controlled drug of Class B and received a six-month Detention and Training Order.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in November 2013.

Mr EN, a Vietnamese national, entered the UK illegally in 2010 or 2011. He was first arrested in July 2011 whilst working illegally in a nail bar and was assessed as being 15 years old.

Mr EN was arrested again at a house where cannabis was being grown commercially. He subsequently pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis.

An attempt was made to appeal against Mr EN’s conviction on the basis of a defence of duress.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) opposed this on the grounds that Mr EN had not been compelled or coerced into cultivating cannabis as a result of being trafficked.

The appeal was withdrawn in August 2012 on the basis that there was no evidence of duress or compulsion or coercion to cultivate cannabis.

Following his conviction, Mr EN was recognised as a victim of human trafficking.

During review, the CCRC considered that despite the fact there was material available at the time of EN’s conviction indicating that he had been trafficked to the UK for the purposes of labour exploitation, the police, defence, prosecution, and Court did not instigate any further enquiries.

The CCRC considered new evidence further indicating that Mr EN was a credible child victim of trafficking and that he had committed the offence as a direct consequence of his trafficked situation.

As a child victim of trafficking, the CCRC found that the CPS had applied the incorrect test by focusing on whether Mr EN was compelled or coerced into cultivating cannabis.

The CPS guidance on this matter, which reflected international law, was that in cases involving possible child victims of human trafficking, whether a victim had been compelled to commit the offence does not apply.

The correct test was whether Mr EN committed the criminal offence as a direct consequence of his trafficked situation.

In the CCRC’s view, there was before the CPS ample evidence that Mr EN had committed the offence as a direct result of being trafficked.

The CCRC referred the conviction in July 2014.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in September 2014.