Home Office Shenanigans: It's Just Not Cricket

The Independent is not a LOL daily read so I missed this but happily PDF has come to the rescue. We're back to the Liarco Chindamo tribunal and what Nigel Leskin, Chindamo's solicitor, described as a "cynical attempt" to stuff his client's case as two key witnesses - officers at Ford Open Prison - were stymied and prevented from giving evidence in person:

"I can only assume that it was intended as an obstruction to the defence putting its case properly. This was a very serious issue and one on which the tribunal should have been able to hear directly from the witnesses who knew most about my client's progress in prison, it would have allowed both sides to cross-examine them and so create a fairer impression of what they had to say."

The judgment shows that their written evidence was crucial.

Senior immigration Judge Allen said in the judgment:

"Of particular significance was what was said by Mr Hughes, the deputy governor of Ford Prison, in his letter to the appellant's solicitors of 8 March 2007. He had been in the Prison Service for 30 years and had dealt with numerous offences. There were only a small minority who had demonstrated a change for the better and gone on to lead lawful and purposeful lives and he strongly believed that the appellant was a changed person who had realised the gravity of his index offence and if given a chance would prove himself worthy of trust. All the reports on him had been very positive and the parole board had been very impressed."

The Independent report continued: The Home Office declined to comment on the allegation that it had tried to mislead the tribunal by suppressing evidence. A spokeswoman said the Government intended to appeal against the tribunal ruling so that Chindamo could be deported to Italy, where he was born. Yesterday, the Tory party continued to argue that the case showed it was time to abolish the Human Rights Act.


Ridiculous! As if he didn't have enough bad karma already. Image: after Bloggerheads. Trying to abolish an Act which scarcely impinges on this matter. Cameron said: "The fact that the murderer of Philip Lawrence cannot be deported flies in the face of common sense. It is a glaring example of what is going wrong in our country. What about the rights of Mrs Lawrence? We ought to abolish the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights that we can write ourselves - that sets out clearly our rights and responsibilities."

Back to the Independent: Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said Mr Cameron had misunderstood the Human Rights Act. "This case is about European Union law, not the Human Rights Act. It is wrong for David Cameron to suggest otherwise." She called on Mr Cameron to "correct his error and apologise to Mrs Lawrence for letting her think all it takes is a tweak to the Human Rights Act for her husband's killer to be deported to Italy".