RA (Nigeria), R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 384 (23 March 2016)

In the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) - On Appeal from the High Court of Justice - Queen's Bench Division

This is a renewed oral application for permission to appeal against a decision of Mr Andrew Thomas QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Administrative Court, whereby he dismissed the application by the appellant for judicial review of a decision taken by the respondent Secretary of State dated 10 May 2013, whereby she refused to revoke a deportation order made against the appellant. In the decision, the respondent maintained a certificate placed on an anterior asylum claim that the application was clearly unfounded, thereby barring the appellant from making an in-country appeal against the decision. The relevant facts can be found in the judgment below, and I will not repeat them here.

There are two grounds of appeal advanced by the appellant. The first ground takes issue with a statement made by the judge in the concluding part of his judgment that:

"The defendant was entitled to take into account all of the other material which was available to her. On any view, Dr Sultan and Dr Burrun had far more information available to them than Dr Bell and had been better placed to assess the claimant."

Dr Sultan and Dr Burrun are psychiatrists who have treated the appellant during his detention, while Dr Bell is a distinguished psychiatrist who was consulted on the instructions of the appellant's solicitors, and who examined the appellant. It is said that it was on that basis that the judge dismissed the claim, and it is objected that it leads to the proposition that the views of an independent medical expert instructed by the appellant can never gain sufficient parity with the views of doctors working within the immigration removal centre where the appellant was held.

Find full details of this case on Bailii’s website here.