The decision to detain must be justified and then reviewed at regular intervals. A failure to lawfully justify detention or a failure to correctly review detention may result in the detention being unlawful.

If any period of your detention is unlawful, you may be able to claim compensation.

Our team’s in-depth analysis of Home Office disclosures, combined with our experience and knowledge of human rights, immigration detention and immigration and asylum law, has meant that the vast majority of our clients have succeeded in their claims and have obtained substantial amounts in damages for varied and complex cases, including:

• £40,000, including aggravated damages, for a client whose mental health deteriorated during detention;
• £25,000 for Foreign National Offender with a history of absconding but who was also a victim of torture;
• £15,000 for personal injury arising from a brief period of unlawful detention which followed completion of a custodial sentence;
• £20,000 for a detainee wrongly accused of entering into a marriage of convenience;
• £32,500 for 51 days detention pending removal to a third country, where detention was unlawful on Hemmati grounds. Damages also included aggravated damages for, among other things, a failure by the Home Office to take any action to progress removal.

Funding under Legal Aid is available if eligible.

If you would like to speak with our Public Law department about a potential unlawful detention claim, please telephone 01922 645 429, complete our enquiry
form or contact our Public Law department directly via email:

Natalia Garcia (Head of Public Law): ngarcia@fountainsolicitors.com

Matt Reeves (Public Law Caseworker): mreeves@fountainsolicitors.com