Sohe, Richard

Richard Sohe, a national of Cameroon, was arrested at Gatwick Airport in January 2009 on suspicion of being in possession of a false French Passport.

In his police interview, he confirmed his real identity and admitted that the French passport he had tried to use was supplied by those who had arranged his travel.

He stated that he was fleeing Cameroon where he was in danger from agents of the government pursuing him because of his political activities, and where he had already been tortured whilst in detention. He said he had intended to travel on to Canada to claim asylum but having been detained, he claimed asylum in the UK.

On the advice of solicitors, he pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document on his first appearance at Lewes Crown Court in February 2009. He was convicted and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.

The Home Office subsequently granted Mr Sohe asylum status in July 2010.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in November 2012.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that Mr Sohe had a statutory defence to the charge on which he was convicted available to him under section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, namely a “reasonable excuse” for not producing a genuine immigration document.

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

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2014.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in June 2015.