Mr HU

Mr HU was convicted of production of cannabis in August 2009 at Peterborough Crown Court. He was sentenced to 20 months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution. 

When Mr HU was interviewed, he said that he was 15 years old, and though that was not accepted at the time, it is now recognised by government as the truth. 
Issues of trafficking were raised early in the process.  

Mr HU was referred to the UK Border Agency on the basis he may have been trafficked, but the CPS found no credible evidence that he had. However, the UK Border Agency concluded that there were, in fact, reasonable grounds for believing that he had been trafficked. 

Mr HU applied to the CCRC in November 2022, having regard to a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights, asking specifically, whether the state had failed to discharge its duty under Article 4 ECHR to protect victims of trafficking. 

In Mr HU’s case, the CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility that his prosecution was an abuse of process as the CPS failed to give clear, rational and legally coherent grounds, consistent with the international definition of trafficking, for rejecting the positive trafficking determination.  

It was also clear Mr HU’s legal representatives dismissed trafficking concerns outright, accepted the CPS’ flawed reasoning and advising him to maintain a guilty plea, without ensuring that his plea was entered “in full awareness of the facts” and legal implications of his trafficking status. 

The CCRC referred the conviction in November 2025.