21 May DPG To Continue Brook House Challenge In High Court Permission Hearing Tomorrow

We are in the High Court on Tuesday seeking permission to continue our judicial review challenging the Home Secretary’s refusal to announce an independent public inquiry in to the widespread abuse revealed at G4S-run Brook House Immigration Removal Centre.

In September 2017, the BBC aired its BAFTA award winning Panorama documentary, “Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets”. It revealed shocking scenes of racial and physical abuse being suffered by detainees in Brook House at the hands of G4S staff. Our client (“BB”), who wishes to remain anonymous, is a former detainee of Brook House who suffered such abuse.

BB argues that only a public inquiry is sufficient to satisfy the Home Secretary’s investigative obligations imposed by Article 3 of the ECHR. BB highlights that almost 8 months following Panorama’s revelations, questions over the causes of the horrific abuse; its scale; how they were not picked up by existing monitoring; and how to prevent its reoccurrence – remain unanswered. Yet, in that time we have heard more worrying statistics from the Independent Monitoring Board including details of the dramatic increase in the use of force by G4S staff on detainees at Brook House in 2017. Despite all these ongoing concerns, the Home Office announced on 4 May 2018 a two year extension to G4S’s service contract for Brook House and Tinsley House.

The Claimant is represented by Joanna Thomson of Deighton Pierce Glynn, assisted by Mark Hylands, and Nick Armstrong of Matrix Chambers and Jesse Nicholls of Doughty Street Chambers.

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