Mr I (1/6)

Mr I was convicted between September 2012 and April 2014 of burglary, robbery, failure to comply with a youth rehabilitation order and possession of a Class B controlled drug.

Mr I received a 12-month referral order, a supervision requirement with curfew and electronic monitoring, and a £25 fine.

The CCRC received an application for review of the convictions in November 2019.

On various occasions between 2012 and 2014, Mr I, an Afghan national who was then a child, pleaded guilty to offences in the Youth Court.

In 2018, the Home Office decided that Mr I had been trafficked into and within the United Kingdom for the purposes of forced labour and forced criminality.

Despite indicators of his trafficked status being present at the time of his arrest for these offences, neither the police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), courts or Mr I’s defence lawyers instigated any further enquiries.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that had the CPS applied its own guidance to victims of trafficking it might well have decided it was not in the public interest to prosecute Mr I, as his offending was a direct consequence of his trafficked status.

Because the CPS failed to investigate the trafficking issue, or to refer Mr I for assessment as required by its guidance, the CCRC was of the view that these prosecutions may have amounted to an abuse of process bearing in mind the UK’s obligations under Article 26 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The CCRC referred the convictions in February 2022.

The Crown Court quashed the convictions in February 2023.