‘Gay' Nigerian criminal can stay in UK despite using wife to claim asylum

Telegraph

5 hours ago

A Nigerian jailed for violence has won a legal battle against deportation after claiming to be gay despite having been married to a woman and fathering a child by another.
The man who arrived in Britain in 1983 made a series of initial asylum claims unrelated to his sexuality.
Originally he claimed he would face persecution because of his political opinions. But when this was rejected, he sought leave to remain on the basis that he had married a woman living in the UK.
After this argument was dismissed by the Home Office, he sought the right to remain after fathering a son.
He claimed his removal from the UK would be a breach of his rights to a family life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Jailed for violence
Soon after he was jailed for four years for violent disorder, leading to the Government issuing an order for him to be deported.
Once out of jail, he said he entered into a three-year relationship with a man, after which he submitted a claim to remain in Britain on the basis that he would be persecuted for being gay if returned to his home country.
After a final appeal hearing, immigration judges ruled that they were 'satisfied to the lower standard' that he was gay, which would expose him to the 'real risk of persecution' if he was returned to his African homeland.
'Accordingly the appellant has a well-founded fear of persecution and he therefore qualifies for protection under the Refugee Convention,' they ruled.
'We are also satisfied that the appellant's removal would breach his rights under articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR.'
Article 3 of the ECHR protects against persecution, torture and ill treatment.
The case has been revealed in court documents, obtained by The Telegraph, and is the latest where migrants or foreign criminals have used human rights legislation to avoid deportation.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is proposing to restrict judges' powers to grant asylum under the ECHR articles 3 and 8 amid concerns a third of cases are now being approved for 'exceptional' reasons.
The man, granted anonymity by immigration judges, claimed he had a gay relationship with a friend while at school in Africa. He came to Britain in 1983 but overstayed and left in 1992 before re-entering the UK in 1996, when he unsuccessfully claimed asylum on the basis of his political opinion.
Marriage ends in divorce
After unsuccessfully applying to stay on the basis of his marriage to a Portuguese woman in 2000, the couple divorced. According to the man he was 'in denial about his sexual orientation' when he started another relationship with a woman. They had a son in 2001.
Two years later, he was convicted of violent disorder, after which he mounted a legal effort to avoid deportation, culminating in an appeal in 2015 based on the fact that he was gay.
In evidence, he cited communications from his family in Nigeria over his relationship with a man from 2010 to 2013.
He told the court they had told him to end it, saying he was 'bringing the family into ridicule and shame'. They said they would inform the security services of his sexuality.
After his case was initially rejected, it was put before an upper tribunal where the judges accepted he had made 'numerous unsuccessful attempts to regularise his stay in the UK' and had 'a clear motivation for maintaining his claim to be gay and to fabricate having had a further relationship with a man'.
'However, we consider that the appellant's account should not be rejected solely because of his immigration history or because he did not rely on his sexual orientation to remain in the UK prior to 2015,' they said.
They also found his evidence to be 'plausible and internally consistent,' ultimately ruling that his appeal should be upheld.