The Court of Appeal has held that the Home Office unlawfully detained VC, a Nigerian national who suffers from bi-polar affective disorder, for 10 months.
This was following receipt of a report from the detention centre that warned that his condition would deteriorate if he was detained. Hamish Arnott acted for VC, with Stephanie Harrison QC and Amanda Weston from Garden Court Chambers.
The Home Office failed to apply its own policy on detaining those with mental illness, and VC deteriorated to the point of losing mental capacity. The Court also held that the Home Office acted in breach of the Equality Act 2010 in failing to make adjustments to ensure that VC could be assisted in challenging the decisions to detain him, and to segregate him during that detention.
Read the judgment here.