Ms L

Ms L, an Ethiopian national, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in May 2004 as she tried to board an international flight using a false British passport.

Ms L was questioned by police and subsequently charged with using a false instrument contrary to sections 3 and 6 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, and with attempting to obtain services by deception contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.

She was remanded in custody and later pleaded guilty to both charges at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court. She was sentenced to a total of three months’ imprisonment.

Having pleaded guilty in a magistrate’s court, Ms L had no right of appeal against her conviction. She applied to the CCRC for a review of her convictions in 2012.

Ms L was granted asylum in 2008 on the basis that she was a member of the Oromo Liberation Front, a journalist who reported on anti-government matters, and that there was evidence she had been detained, raped and otherwise mistreated in Ethiopia and faced further persecution if she returned. She was subsequently granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Having reviewed the case in detail, the CCRC decided to refer Ms L’s convictions to the Crown Court. The referral was made on the basis that it was now known that Ms L was at all times a genuine refugee who was compelled to commit the offences by the UK’s failure to recognise her status.

The CCRC therefore considered that there was a real possibility that the Crown Court would conclude that, in all the circumstances, it should allow Ms L to vacate her guilty pleas and enter not guilty pleas and be acquitted of the offences or that the Crown Court would stay any fresh prosecution as an abuse of process.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2015.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in May 2015.