A Home Office error meant a man was released and told he had completed his prison sentence – only to be ordered back to jail to spend 11 more days behind bars.
Nicardo Stewart, 36, was released on bail from removal centre Brook House on Monday, where he had spent four weeks after being detained for deportation to Jamaica last month. His removal was cancelled a week before the flight on the grounds that he has strong family ties to the UK.
The Jamaican national returned home to his partner and children – all aged between six and 12 – and the family had been looking forward to spending Christmas together.
However, Mr Stewart, who served a three-year sentence for possession of an offensive weapon before being placed in immigration detention, was contacted by the probation services on Thursday and told he must return to custody to serve the remaining 11 days of his custodial sentence.
An email from the head of offender management services at the jail where he served his sentence explained that immigration services had wrongly released Mr Stewart on bail.
“This was done wrongly by immigration as you were still a serving offender and hadn’t completed your sentence in custody," the email said.
Mr Stewart told The Independent he was devastated at being ripped apart from his family days after being reunited with them, and said the situation was leading him to have suicidal thoughts.
“I don’t know how I’m going to explain that to my kids. I told them I would be there for Christmas. They were so happy when I came back on Monday, and now if I go back to jail I’m going to let them down again. They were all looking forward to us being together for Christmas,” he said.
Celia Clarke, director at Bail for Immigration Detainees, said the case showed a “deep lack of attention and care” and was “deeply cruel” on Mr Stewart and his children.
“To be reunited with your parent after so long only to have him snatched away and returned to prison is an unimaginable level of cruelty. And all because of what seems to be some kind of bureaucratic error,” she added.
“Can someone not deploy some common-sense and humanity and allow him to serve the 11 days with his family?”
Mr Stewart was one of 35 Jamaican nationals who were taken off a controversial deportation flight that departed from the UK on 2 December following legal intervention.
The majority of claims were made on the grounds that they had strong familial ties in the UK – as in the case of Mr Stewart – or they had trafficking indicators.
The Home Office was urged following the flight to ensure people facing deportation have adequate access to legal advice prior to their removal, amid claims by immigration minister Chris Philp that the lawyers who intervened in their cases had used “last-minute tactics”.
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
