Detention damages for illegal immigrant

Lawyers for Joseph Mjemer, 28, successfully argued at a hearing in London he had been unlawfully held in prison while immigration officials tried to establish where he came from so they could deport him.

Mjemer had been taken into Home Office “administrative custody” in 2007 – after arriving in the UK in 2003 and committing a variety of crimes – because officials feared he would abscond if freed, the court heard.

Judge Stephen Stewart QC ruled that the detention had been lawful for most of that period, but was illegal for the past four months because, since the start of the year, attempts to establish Mjemer’s nationality had faltered and there was no realistic prospect of deportation. Mjemer therefore succeeded in his claim for release and damages, said the judge.

Over three years, Mjemer was convicted of more than 20 offences – including property damage, dangerous driving and attempting to obtain property by deception – and given a number of jail terms before being taken into “administrative custody”, the judge was told. He variously claimed to be British, Italian, Moroccan, Algerian and stateless.