16-05-2025
Guinean asylum seeker with convictions for drug dealing and carrying weapons can't be deported as he is 'socially and culturally integrated' in Britain, immigration tribunal told
An asylum seeker with multiple convictions has been allowed to stay in the UK after becoming 'socially and culturally integrated' in Britain, an immigration tribunal heard.
The man, who is from Guinea and can not be named for legal reasons, amassed a 'significant number of criminal convictions' including those related to drug dealing and carrying a knife since arriving in the UK as a child in 2007.
He was sentenced to 12 weeks' imprisonment for a criminal charge of possessing an offensive weapon in 2016, the tribunal heard.
He was later jailed for two years and eight months after being convicted of four counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs in 2018, which triggered the Home Office move to deport him.
The man was sentenced again in 2022 to 32 weeks' imprisonment for possession of a blade.
In June 2023, his appeal against deportation went to the first-tier tribunal, which accepted that he was 'socially and culturally integrated into the UK' despite periods of homelessness and repeated criminal offending.
The Home Office appealed against this decision, arguing the judge had 'failed to consider all of the relevant circumstances and the judge's reasoning was inadequate', the tribunal heard.
But the Government has now lost this appeal, meaning the man has been allowed to stay in the UK on human rights grounds.
Judge Leonie Hirst said that the first-tier tribunal considered that the man had 'arrived in the UK as an unaccompanied minor in 2007 and had resided in the UK ever since; had been educated in the UK and undertaken employment; had received social services support as a minor and medical support; and had had a long-term, albeit on-and-off, relationship with his girlfriend and her family'.
The man sought asylum when he arrived in the UK but this was refused and his appeal rights were "exhausted" in 2011, the tribunal heard.
Judge Hirst added: 'The conclusion that despite his offending the Respondent was socially and culturally integrated into the UK was one which was open to the judge on the evidence.
'His consideration of the various factors was clearly and adequately was no error of law in his reasoning or conclusion.'
She also said there was 'no error' in the first-tier tribunal's finding that the man 'would not be enough of an insider in Guinea to be accepted there and be able to operate on a day to day basis'.
The judge went on to say that Lisa Davies, a consultant forensic psychologist, found that the man 'presented with a low risk of reoffending and a low risk of causing serious harm if he were to reoffend'.
She added: 'I consider that it was entirely open to the judge to rely on her report both in relation to the Respondent's mental health and his risk of reoffending.
'There was nothing irrational in the judge's finding, on the evidence before him, that the risk posed by the Respondent was low.'
