‘Asylum’ children to get pay out
TWO failed asylum seekers are to receive thousands of pounds in damages after the High Court ruled their children were wrongly locked up.
Mr Justice Wyn Williams ruled the three children were unlawfully detained after their deportation orders were cancelled. Yesterday he ordered Home Office lawyers to agree damages with the mothers.
The court heard how last February Reetha Suppiah, 37, a Malaysian nurse, and her two sons, then aged two and 11, were arrested in a dawn raid on their home in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Sakinat Bello, 25, from Nigeria, and her three-year-old daughter were arrested in London. All five were taken to Yarl’s Wood immigration centre in Bedfordshire. Although their deportation orders were cancelled, Bello and her daughter were held for 12 days and the Suppiahs for 17 days before being released.
Yesterday’s judgment was the result of a judicial review heard last October.