R (on the application of MXL and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] EWHC 2397 (Admin), [2010] All ER (D) 05 (Oct)
Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court Blake J, 30 Sept 2010
It is a defence to an allegation that detention was unlawful if it was open to a reasonable secretary of state to make the decision to detain.
Stephanie Harrison (instructed by Bhatt Murphy Solicitors) for the claimant.
Jeremy Johnson (instructed by the Treasury Solicitors) for the defendant.
The claimant was a Jamaican national. She entered the United Kingdom in 2001, and was granted leave to enter for six months. In 2003, she was granted leave to remain as the spouse of a British citizen. Her two children were born in 2003 and 2007.
The claimant had a long criminal record for offences of theft. Between her arrival and 2008, she was convicted of nineteen offences of theft on six separate occasions.
In 2007, two months after the birth of her second child, she was arrested in connection with an offence of conspiracy to steal.
On 16 February 2009, following her plea
