An eight-month-old baby was locked up by the Home Office in immigration detention despite being a British citizen.
Court documents show the baby was locked up with his mother for 12 days in 2010 after the Home Office successfully won an appeal against a ruling that the baby and his mother, a Nigerian national, had been falsely imprisoned on the grounds that the burden of proof rested on the boy to prove his citizenship. The mother was detained after her asylum application was rejected.
Initially it was submitted that, as a British citizen, the child could not be removed and his mother should be permitted to remain in the UK to care for him but the Home Office rejected the representations and detained mother and son. The name of the boy’s British father had been omitted from his birth certificate. Ultimately, the high court granted a stay of removal and both mother and son were released. They were awarded damages of £20,000 and £5,000 respectively for false imprisonment.
Initial appeal
The Home Office appealed against this decision in the high court on the grounds that the judge made an error of law by concluding that the boy could not lawfully be detained because he was a British citizen because at the time the decision to detain the pair was made, it was not proven that he was a British citizen.
On cross-appeal it was directed that the case should return to a lower court and be heard again for a fresh decision. The child in question is now nine years old.
