NN (Sri Lanka) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Beatson |
| Judgment Date | 15 April 2013 |
| Neutral Citation | [2013] EWCA Civ 501 |
| Docket Number | Case No: C5/2012/3023 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 15 April 2013 |
[2013] EWCA Civ 501
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
(IMMIGRATION & ASYLUM CHAMBER)
[Appeal No: AA/12549/2011]
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Beatson
Case No: C5/2012/3023
Mr Philip Nathan (instructed by Messrs Birnberg Pierce & Partners) appeared on behalf of the Appellant.
The Respondent did not appear and was not represented.
This is a renewed application for permission to appeal against the decision of the Upper Tribunal remaking a decision made by the First-tier (Immigration and Asylum) Tribunal, the earlier decision having been set aside on the ground of an error of law in relation to the treatment of medical evidence. It is the first of two renewed applications before me today by citizens of Sri Lanka which concern the approach of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) to expert medical evidence as to the cause of injuries sustained by individuals from Sri Lanka who appealed to the tribunal, although in this case, NN's case, the way the application is put has recently changed. There had been a number of other applications for permission about the approach of the Upper Tribunal to medical evidence. In two of them, permission was given; in a third, the application was directed to be listed for a hearing with the appeal to follow if permission was given. At the time the Supervising Lord Justice, Davis LJ, took the view that the cases were all fact-specific, and there was no need for other cases to be stood out pending judgment, and in fact those three cases settled; Mr Nathan has informed me that they were conceded by the respondent.
In this case, NN claimed that he had been required to store weapons by the LTTE, of which his brother was a member. He claimed that his activity was discovered because the authorities had tortured his brother and that in April 2011 he was also tortured. He was released, he travelled to this country, and he claimed asylum after arriving in the United Kingdom on 31 August. The issue before me is the Tribunal's treatment of the medical report of Dr Lingam, who examined...
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