Public Law Solicitors

The Home Secretary has admitted breaching Article 3 of the ECHR along with the Equality Act during the Harmondsworth IRC evacuation following a catastrophic power failure in November 2022.

The Home Office was forced into a chaotic evacuation of immigration detention centre near Heathrow Airport, which prompted the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, to wrongly blame detainees for the causing disruption.

From subsequent disclosure, it became clear that the Home Office had been frequently warned about the risk of a power failure and failed to take any steps to remedy the problem or plan for how it would deal with an emergency at the centre. As a result, vulnerable detainees with serious medical conditions experienced terrible conditions, including a lack of sufficient water and over 24 hours detained on a bus while being transferred to another detention centre.

In R(AK) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CO/4703/2022 and R(AJ) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CO/4709/2022, the Secretary of State for the Home Department has admitted that he breached his Public Sector Equality Duty through his failure to consider the need for an evacuation plan with reasonable adjustments for disabled detainees and that there was a breach of Article 3 ECHR in respect of one of the claimants through the failure to ensure he was provided with essential HIV medication.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department also agreed to pay both claimants substantial damages for unlawful detention. The Secretary of State for the Home Department defended the case for almost a year before conceding at the end of the first day of a three-day trial.

Lewis Kett, the claimants’ solicitor at Duncan Lewis, said: “Our clients faced immense suffering and hardship during the Home Office’s utterly reckless approach to the evacuation of Harmondsworth IRC last November. They faced terrible conditions during the power cut before being chaotically evacuated and held on a coach outside Tinsley House IRC for an inexplicable period of time. The casual and cavalier approach to one of our clients repeatedly missing his HIV medication was dangerous and unjustifiable, and we are pleased that the Home Office has belatedly recognised their unlawful actions. Our clients hope the Home Office properly learn lessons from this ordeal.”

The Claimants were represented by Nick Armstrong KC of Matrix Chambers and Alex Schymyck of Garden Court Chambers, instructed by Lewis Kett, Nicholas Hughes and Dominic Chambers of Duncan Lewis Solicitors.

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