FD, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

FD is a national of Jamaica who has lived for many years in the United Kingdom. He was made the subject of a deportation order in 2017, which revoked his indefinite leave to remain, and he subsequently made asylum and human rights claims which the Secretary of State treated in substance as an application to revoke the order. Those claims, lodged in 2019, remained undetermined for many years and no steps were taken to deport him. In December 2024 an official acting for the Secretary of State told him he had indefinite leave to remain, and he was invited to open an electronic visa account which recorded him as settled. He travelled to Turkey for a five-day holiday in September 2025 and, on attempting to fly home, was told on 23 September 2025 that the Secretary of State had refused authority for the airline to carry him under the Authority to Carry Scheme 2023, leaving him stranded. On judicial review, Constable J held that the power to specify classes of persons under section 22(3) of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 was confined to those posing a terrorism-related threat, and that the individual decision was irrational and breached FD's rights under article 8 of the Convention. FD was then permitted to return. The Secretary of State appealed on two grounds, permission having been refused on the grounds attacking the individual decision.