Mr EY

Mr EY, an Eritrean national, arrived at Heathrow airport on 23rd May 2007 on a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He was unable to produce a passport or other identity document and sought to claim asylum on the basis that he had escaped from prison in Eritrea where he had been persecuted as a member of the Pentecostal faith.

On 24th May 2007, Mr EY was arrested by police on suspicion of arriving in the United Kingdom without a valid passport or travel document. Later that day he was interviewed under caution with an interpreter and solicitor present.

The next day, Mr EY appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court and, on advice from the solicitor, pleaded guilty to failing to produce a document contrary to section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004. He was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.

On 15 August 2007, Mr EY was granted refugee status with five years’ leave to remain. He applied to the CCRC for a review of his case in March 2014.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that Mr EY had a statutory defence to the charge on which he was convicted available to him under section 2(4)(c) of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004, namely a “reasonable excuse” for not producing a genuine immigration document.

Mr EY could not produce his genuine Eritrean passport as he had given this to an agent whilst escaping persecution and the passport had been lost. Mr EY could not return to Eritrea because he had a well-founded fear of persecution.

The legal advice provided to Mr EY deprived him of an 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 Crown Court would set aside Mr EY’s guilty plea and conclude that in all the circumstances it should not uphold the conviction.

The CCRC referred the conviction in April 2015.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in July 2015.