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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Ullah, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] EWCA Civ 1366 (10 October 2003) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2003/1366.html Cite as: [2003] EWCA Civ 1366 |
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COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION (MAURICE KAY J)
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE POTTER
and
LORD JUSTICE TUCKEY
____________________
THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF ULLAH |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT |
Respondent |
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Smith Bernal Wordwave Limited, 190 Fleet Street
London EC4A 2AG
Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Ms Lisa Giovanetti (instructed by the Treasury solicitors) for the respondent
____________________
AS APPROVED BY THE COURT
CROWN COPYRIGHT ©
Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Potter:
Introduction
The Background Facts
"In October 1993 she had informed the Home Office that she did not support her husband's application for an entry clearance to join her for settlement in the UK, however before this information was received the visa had been issued in Islamabad on 17 October 1993. In February 1994 Miss Bashir had telephoned her husband in Pakistan and told him she was not prepared to live with him and he should not come to the UK. However, he arrived in the UK on 1.03.94 and was granted leave to enter for 12 months … The couple had lived at her family home, but had not shared the same bedroom and the marriage had never been consummated. Miss Bashir has written several letters to the Home Office withdrawing her support for husband's continued stay and instigated divorce proceedings in July 1995. She confirmed that she and the subject are cousins."
"The subject had obtained his entry clearance as the spouse of a British citizen. He had been informed by his wife prior to his entry to the UK, that she did not intend to live permanently with him and the marriage would not be subsisting. [The appellant] had failed to inform the Entry Clearance Officer of the change in his circumstances since the issue of his visa which I considered would have rendered it ineffective. On arrival in the UK he had not disclosed to the Immigration Officer the true position regarding his marriage thereby constituting an offence under Section 26(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1971."
"Please stop this, it is just a way of getting into this country."
The subsequent letters were written after she and the claimant had separated and she continued to oppose his application to remain in the country. It is right to note that none of the letters written by Ms Bashir, nor the fact of their communication, were known to the appellant at the time they were sent, or until shortly before the proceedings for judicial review.
"(a) Following the marriage the parties have enjoyed no form of married life together. The parties resided in the Petitioner's brother's house and the Respondent made no attempt to communicate with the Petitioner or form any married life with her.
(b) Approximately eight months after the marriage the Respondent left the Petitioner's brother's house and went to live in Walthamstow. The Respondent has made no attempt to contact the Petitioner.
(c) The Petitioner believes that the Respondent married her in order to be able to stay in the UK having come from Pakistan approximately one month before the marriage."
"As you know, your client is considered to have entered the United Kingdom unlawfully, and on 1 September 1995 your client was served with notice to an illegal entrant. This notice advised your client of his liability to detention and summary removal from the United Kingdom as an illegal entrant, as defined in section 33(1) of the Immigration Act 1971."
The judge's decision
"I do not consider that the fairness of these proceedings is undermined by the lack of a witness statement from, or the absence from the witness box of, Zahida Bashir. Although the court has a discretion to permit or even require cross-examination, it is in general exceptional in judicial review proceedings, even in the context of cases involving questions of precedent fact. Accordingly, in my judgment, this first ground of challenge fails."
"21. … Has the Secretary of State established that the claimant entered this country illegally? In my judgment he has. I attach particular significance to the letter of October 1993, which was virtually contemporaneous with the grant of the visa, and also to the divorce petition which Zahida Bashir did not know would be produced outside the context in which it was issued. It was not she who caused it to be produced in these proceedings. The claimant's account to the immigration officer does not live easily with those documents.
22. The material read as a whole leads me to conclude that the claimant obtained leave to enter by representing his marriage to Zahida Bashir as valid and subsisting, whereas the true position, as he must have known, was otherwise. Notwithstanding the period of co-habitation in this country, and the ceremony of marriage, I do not believe that they ever really lived together as man and wife in this country.
23. In all those circumstances, I am satisfied that the Secretary of State has discharged the burden to the requisite standard and in those circumstances this application for judicial review must fail."
The issues
"(1) Whether the appellant's case involved "the determination of his civil rights and obligations" under Article 6.1 of the ECHR.
(2) If not, whether the appellant was nonetheless entitled to all the benefits of the right to a fair trial under that article in relation to the judge's decision under ordinary common law considerations of fairness.
(3) Whether, in that context, he was entitled to a witness statement (as opposed to a hearsay statement) from the person whose evidence alleged deception and/or to cross-examine that witness.
(4) Whether the judge was wrong to hold that the Secretary of State had proved his case in the light of the evidential value of the evidence produced and/or whether, given the form of proof that was adopted, the appellant had a fair opportunity to rebut or otherwise deal with it."
(1) The Case under Article 6
(2) Fairness at common law
" … the burden of proving that leave to enter was obtained by fraud and that consequently the entrant is an illegal entrant liable to arrest and expulsion can only be discharged by the Immigration Authorities manifesting to the satisfaction of the court a high degree of probability."
See also per Lord Bridge at 124C-F and per Lord Scarman at 113H – 114A.
"It does not follow that the court must disregard written statements by witnesses who are not available for cross-examination or documents which are not supported by direct written or oral evidence as to the circumstances in which they came into existence."
To similar effect, Lord Scarman observed at p.124G-125B:
"I understand all your Lordships to be agreed that nothing said in the present case should be construed as a charter to alleged illegal entrants who challenge their detention and proposed removal to demand the attendance of deponents to affidavits for cross-examination. Whether to permit cross-examination will remain a matter for the court in its discretion to decide … If the alleged illegal entrant … files an affidavit putting in issue the primary facts alleged against him he will himself be readily available for cross-examination, which should enable the court in the great majority of cases to decide whether or not he is a witness of truth."
(3) Entitlement to a witness statement
(4) Was the burden of proof satisfied?
"… cannot possibly act as, in effect, a Court of Appeal as to the facts on which the Immigration Officer decided. What it is able to do, and this is the limit of its powers, is to see whether there was evidence on which the Immigration Officer, acting reasonably, could decide as he did."
"Notwithstanding the period of co-habitation in this country and the ceremony of marriage [in England], I do not believe they ever really lived together as man and wife in this country."
see para 22 of the judgment quoted at para 18 above.
Lord Justice Tuckey:
Lord Justice Thorpe:
i) Three letters from his former wife to the Home Office
ii) The contents of her petition for divorce filed on 28 July 1995
iii) The note of her interview on 14 September 1995.
"(Zahida Bashir's) account is consistent, a proposition which Mr McCullough bases on a comparison between what she told Miss Bedson (the immigration officer) and the letters in 1993 and 1994, and the divorce petition."
"In February 1994 Miss Bashir had telephoned her husband in Pakistan and told him she was not prepared to live with him and he should not come to the UK."