[2025] UKUT 00092 (IAC)

Issue (1): where a recognised victim of modern slavery is prosecuted for offences arising out of the forced criminality that formed a basis for the Competent Authority’s recognition of him as a victim of modern slavery, is the Secretary of State required by Article 14(1)(a) of ECAT to consider that “their stay is necessary owing to their personal situation” in order for the individual to defend criminal charges on the basis of being a victim of modern slavery?

Issue (2): where the Competent Authority only highlighted one of the victim’s two recognised periods of modern slavery to the relevant police force, does Article 14(1)(b) require the Secretary of State to consider that the victim’s stay remains “necessary for the purpose of their cooperation with the competent authorities in investigation or criminal proceedings” until the relevant police force has confirmed that the victim’s presence in the UK is not required for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting the phase of modern slavery that was identified in the CG decision but not expressly highlighted to the police in the accompanying correspondence?

Issue (3): whether, in the circumstances of this case, the applicant’s mental health conditions and claimed prospective difficulties in accessing healthcare and medication in Nigeria, mean that the Secretary of State should have considered that his stay is “necessary” owing to his “personal situation” for the purposes of Article 14(1)(a)? The applicant’s case in this respect is premised on the footing that the Secretary of State’s examination of this issue unlawfully failed to apply anxious scrutiny.