Benchaouir, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The claimant, an Algerian national born on 1 July 1977, entered the United Kingdom illegally, saying he had arrived in about March 2011. He accumulated convictions from 2013 onwards, mostly for theft, together with a drugs conviction, and repeatedly failed to comply with reporting conditions; in September 2017 he was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment for theft and breach of a suspended sentence order. He was served with notice of liability to deportation on 3 October 2017, and on expiry of the custodial term was detained on 4 January 2018 under paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971 pending deportation. He claimed asylum on 3 January 2018; the claim, and his human rights claims, were refused and certified as clearly unfounded under section 94 of the 2002 Act, and a deportation order was made on 29 June 2018 and served on 3 July 2018. No application for an emergency travel document was ever in fact submitted to the Algerian authorities. He sought judicial review of his continued detention on 1 August 2018, obtaining an order for release; the defendant decided on 16 August 2018 to release him. Permission was granted on 29 January 2019, and the substantive hearing began on 12 June 2019, when permission was given to amend to add two further grounds, and concluded on 24 July 2019.