R Samuel Nathaniel Easy v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mrs Justice Lang |
| Judgment Date | 25 November 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | [2015] EWHC 3344 (Admin) |
| Docket Number | Case No: CO/243/2015 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 25 November 2015 |
[2015] EWHC 3344 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Birmingham Civil Justice Centre
Mrs Justice Lang
Case No: CO/243/2015
Mr Ramby de Mello (instructed by Fountain Solicitors) for the Claimant
Ms Naomi Candlin (instructed by The Government Legal Department) for the Defendant
Hearing date: 6 November 2015
The Claimant applies for judicial review of the Defendant's refusal to renew his British passport, previously issued on 29 March 2001.
The decision was made by Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) which is an executive agency of the Home Office. HMPO said, in a pre-action protocol response to the Claimant's solicitors on 16 December 2014:
"Your client's stated identity is that of an infant born at North Middlesex Hospital London on 27/12/75 who subsequently died in infancy on 21/01/1977 at St Leonard's Hospital London. The above information has been confirmed by the General Register Office of England and Wales.
As such the passport previously issued to your client in 2001 at the British High Commission in Kingston Jamaica was issued erroneously on the basis of false information.
Despite the decision taken by the Crown Prosecution Service not to proceed with your client's case, this has no bearing on the fact that your client has no entitlement to a passport in an identity that is patently not his own.
In view of the foregoing, I can only reaffirm our position that your client will not be issued a British passport in this identity. If your client is subsequently in a position to furnish evidence of his true identity, that also qualifies him for British citizenship, then we will of course consider any future application.
It may also be in your client's interests to contact the Jamaican authorities and any other family members who may have further knowledge of his identity."
The Claimant was granted an extension of time and permission to apply for judicial review by Hickinbottom J. on 21 July 2015. Hickinbottom J. also gave the Claimant permission to file amended grounds and additional evidence.
History
The Claimant resides in the United Kingdom (UK) and has done since 2001.
In January 2001, the Claimant applied at the British High Commission ("BHC"), Kingston, Jamaica for a UK passport, relying on a short birth certificate in his name, showing his date of birth as 27 December 1975, and the place of birth as London, UK.
The officials at the BHC conducted a birth and death check with the General Registrars Office (GRO).
The full birth certificate stated that a male named Samuel Nathaniel Easy was born in London on 27 December 1975. His birth was registered on 13 March 1976. His mother was recorded as Juliet 1 Marcia Jenkins (place of birth Birmingham) and his father as Elias Alexander Easy (place of birth Jamaica; occupation cabinet maker).
However, the checks also generated a death certificate which showed that the male named Samuel Nathaniel Easy who was born in London on 27 December 1975 died on 21 January 1977 at St Leonard's Hospital London. The death was registered on 9 March 1977. The father Elias Alexander Easy was named on the death certificate. The BHC was sent this information in a letter dated 1 February 2001.
The Claimant was interviewed by the BHC on 25 March 2001. He told them that he was born in England on 27 December 1975. His mother's name was Juliette but he did not know the identity of his father. At the age of 1, he was sent to live in Jamaica with his grandparents. His grandfather Lester Jenkins was already dead. His grandmother Violet Jenkins had just died the previous week.
The BHC interviewed Juliette Marcia Jenkins on 29 March 2001. She confirmed she was the Claimant's mother. She said she was born in Birmingham, UK on 20 February 1957 and had lived in the UK for 29 years. She held British and Jamaican passports. She had returned to Jamaica to visit her mother who was ill, and had just died. She intended to return to live in Jamaica soon. She had three children. The Claimant, Samuel Nathaniel Easy was born on 27 December 1975. His father was Elias Alexander Easy. She explained that the Claimant had been sent to Jamaica in 1976 to be raised by her mother, Violet Sandrina Jenkins, because she (Juliette) was working and could not care for him. His grandparents brought him up in Jamaica.
The BHC conducted investigations which confirmed the Claimant's name and address and longstanding residence in Jamaica, as well as his good character. The investigations included statements from his employer, the pastor at his church and his doctor. His class teacher at the Kitson Town All-Age School confirmed that he had attended the school for 9 years, graduating in July 1990. The BHC obtained a copy of his Jamaican driving licence issued on 22 March 2001.
The BHC received a declaration made on oath by Lasville V.A. Miller, Justice of the Peace, stating:
"I know Samuel Nathaniel Easy to be the child of Juliette Marcia and Lester Jenkins – born 20.2.1957 – 134 Heathfield Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, England as per certified copy entries of birth attached."
It is not clear which birth certificate the JP was referring to. It also seems to be inaccurate as it is common ground that Lester Jenkins was the father of Juliette Jenkins, not the father of the Claimant.
The BHC obtained the birth certificate of Juliette Marcia Jenkins which stated that she was born on 20 February 1957 in Birmingham, UK. Her parents were Lester Jenkins and Violet Sandrina Jenkins (nee Morgan) who were resident in Birmingham, UK.
I infer that the BHC was satisfied that the Claimant was entitled to be issued with a British passport in the identity he claimed, as the passport was duly issued on 29 March 2001. The Claimant and his mother were interviewed after receipt of the death certificate but there is nothing in the interview notes to indicate how they explained the discrepancy and satisfied the BHC of the Claimant's identity.
Thereafter the Claimant travelled to the UK and took up residence here. He obtained a UK driving licence. The Police National Computer identifies him as Samuel Nathaniel Easy, born 27 December 1975 in London. Some of his children have obtained British passports, based upon application forms in which he is named as their father, and a British citizen.
On 26 September 2011, the Claimant applied to renew his passport (it expired on 29 March 2011). His application triggered a match on the Defendant's Warnings Index in respect of passports issued after the registered death of a child.
Having considered the material which was before BHC in 2001, the Defendant went on to check the details of death with HM Coroner who provided the following records:
i) A witness statement from Juliet Marcia Easy aged 19 years (DOB 20.2.57) living in London describing how her baby Samuel died in a house fire at their home on 21 January 1977.
ii) A report of the incident from the Metropolitan Police.
iii) The post mortem report.
iv) The Coroner's Inquisition, dated 8 March 1977, certifying the death of Samuel Nathaniel Easy on 21 January 1977, whose date of birth was 27 December 1975. His father was recorded as Elias Easy, a cabinet maker.
v) The Coroner's Officer's Report and notes of evidence. The baby was pronounced dead at hospital at 4.45pm on 21 January 1977. In the notes of evidence, there is a formal record of Juliet Marcia Easy identifying the deceased as her son on 26 January 1977 before Douglas Chambers, the Coroner.
In March 2013, the Claimant was arrested and subsequently charged with offences of procuring a passport using false identity details, contrary to section 36 Criminal Justice Act 1925. He was committed to Birmingham Crown Court for trial on 4 April 2013.
At a hearing on 4 October 2013, the prosecution offered no evidence and he was acquitted. The transcript of the hearing records counsel for the prosecution (Mr Spratt) saying:
"Our case is that he is not Samuel Nathaniel Easy but the defence case, as I have seen from unused material that we have disclosed and, of course, in conversation, is simply this: that this defendant has always been known as Samuel Nathaniel Easy and documentation from Jamaica where he was at school says that they also knew him as Nathaniel Easy.
It seems to me that we would run into a potential difficulty on the issue of whether there had been any dishonesty on his part in any event in making said statement. But, more compellingly, we have taken a few moments to look at the various births and death certificates that exist in the case –
…
our case has been thus far based on the following premise: that Samuel Nathaniel Easy was born in 1975 and died in 1977.
…
Thus, a two-year-old boy. But when one looks a bit more closely at a further birth certificate, one can see that the father in both instances of the person named Samuel Nathaniel Easy is an Elias Easy….Plainly, Elias is of itself an unusual name but made more obviously the same person because the occupation is cabinet maker in each instance. It would seem that there is a more than strong possibility that the same father, who is now in any event, I am told, deceased, had a child in 1975 who died very young and then had another child who had the same name. And this defendant has always been known by his family and by others who knew him as a child and in later years as Samuel Nathaniel Easy. And he has in any event a relationship in this country and a long-term partner and they have a number of children from that union.
The point I am really leading to is that we are in an entirely circular position. The prosecution would need to establish (a) the facts but more importantly, that...
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