NPH v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, referred to as NPH, is a citizen of Vietnam who was born and raised in Thai Binh and was living in Mong Cai, Quang Ninh Province, before leaving the country. He made a protection claim on 4 May 2024, which the Secretary of State for the Home Department refused on 14 January 2025, and he appealed to the First-tier Tribunal. His account was that, having been orphaned young and raised in poverty, he was involved in a road traffic accident in about 2019 which left him liable to compensate another party for damage to a vehicle. Unable to pay, he borrowed from a lender referred to as Mr T, repaid him monthly for about a year and then fell into arrears, whereupon he was assaulted by a group of some 20 to 30 men in or around 2020, sustaining a head injury. He then borrowed from a second lender, Mr B, and became caught in a cycle of borrowing from roughly 20 lenders, accruing debts of about one billion Vietnamese Dong. He said he feared serious harm from those moneylenders on return. The Secretary of State maintained the claim was a private debt dispute, disputed its credibility, and relied on sufficiency of protection and internal relocation. The appellant, unrepresented, filed no bundle, witness statement or skeleton argument despite directions.