Two Dutch citizen sisters who were convicted of importing/attempting to import cocaine and served their sentences have won their appeal against deportation decisions.
In a 2/1 judgment, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed what they found to be flawed decisions. The Secretary of State decided to deport them on the ground that the offence was so serious that the sisters represented a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to the public.
However, the Court observed that the European Court of Justice has placed "limitations on the ability of Member States to deport persons who have committed a criminal offence". A previous criminal conviction can only be taken into account insofar as it evidences "personal conduct constituting a present threat to the requirements of public policy" (Boucherau). Public policy measures to deport "must be based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual...[there must exist] a genuine and sufficiently serious threat to the requirements of public policy affecting one of the fundamental interests of society" (Orfanopoulos).
The Court accepted that the original crime was motivated by the sisters' financial circumstances and that those circumstances had deteriorated. However, the National Offenders Management Services had concluded that they posed a low risk of re-offending. Moreover the Secretary of State's assessment contained material factual errors. Morgan LCJ was not satisfied that the decision was based exclusively on personal conduct rather than the seriousness of the offence. Sir John Sheil considered the decisions to be disproportionate and unreasonable.
The PILS Public Interest Litigation Support Project in Northern Ireland supported this case, following an application by Law Centre NI.
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Click here to view the judgment.