Ignas Stauryla v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, a Lithuanian citizen, arrived in the United Kingdom on 24 September 2012 at around nine years of age and has lived here for most of his life. He was granted settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme on 29 June 2021. On 2 July 2021 he was sentenced to detention for life at Her Majesty's pleasure, with a minimum term of seventeen years and six months, following conviction on an indictment including counts of murder, affray, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, arising from a group attack on 2 March 2020 when he was seventeen. On 8 November 2024 he received a further eight months' imprisonment for violent disorder and unauthorised possession in prison of an offensive weapon. On 26 November 2025 the Secretary of State notified him that she was considering deportation under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, and on 27 March 2026 she decided to make a deportation order and refused his human rights claim, concluding that deportation was justified on serious grounds of public policy or public security and that there were no very compelling circumstances. He appealed to the First-tier Tribunal, where the disputed issues included the level of protection he enjoyed under the preserved EEA Regulations.