A Jamaican murderer has been granted asylum in the UK after claiming that if he returned home he would be targeted by a notorious gang who killed his family.
The killer won the human rights appeal after explaining his ‘fear’ of One Order – one of Jamaica’s most powerful gangs.
The unnamed Jamaican migrant, who has been in the UK since 1996, claimed that the crime syndicate shot his brothers and attacked their family home.
Meanwhile, his sister had to be put into Witness Protection as a safety precaution.
Due to the circumstances, the migrant won an appeal at the Upper Tribunal which ruled that he could be at risk from the One Order gang if he were to return.
When the Home Office initially tried to deport him, he lost an appeal against their decision at the First-tier Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
But the Upper Tribunal in Cardiff found that the First-tier Tribunal ‘overlooked’ key concerns about potential dangers for him in Jamaica and did not properly assess his ‘credibility’.
It was directed that his case must be heard again.
A judgement said he committed murder but did not specify details, other than that he has been through ‘offender management’ during his rehabilitation and now shows an ‘admirable work ethic’.
The Jamaican argued that the First-tier Tribunal the judge not take properly consider his concerns about the One Order gang.
In Jamaica, the One Order gang is based in the city of Spanish Town, which is in an area of Jamaica that is a hotbed for criminal activity.
Earlier this year, the One Order’s kingpin Othneil ‘Thickman’ Lobban was gunned down and killed by police, sparking a violent backlash that closed schools and businesses.
Outlining his arguments, the judgement said: ‘[The Jamaican said] the judge had failed to take into account that the key facts were not disputed by the Home Office.
‘The judge was wrong to find [him] vague in naming the One Order Gang as the source of risk.
‘The judge misunderstood which family members had been murdered and when.
‘The judge failed to take into account the steps taken by and on behalf of the [him] to confirm that [his] sister was in the Witness Protection Programme.’
Upper Tribunal Judge Sean O’Brien said the First-tier Tribunal was mistaken in its ruling.
Judge O’Brien said: ‘The [First-tier Tribunal] judge had overlooked the fact that the core elements of the [Jamaican’s] account were not challenged by [the Home Office], had misunderstood [his] evidence about [his] family he claimed had been murdered because of gang retribution and when, and had given no apparent consideration to the attempts made to verify that [his] sister remained in Witness Protection.
‘I agree therefore that the judge’s findings on the credibility of the [Jamaican’s] account of events in Jamaica involved the making of an error of law.’
Judge O’Brien cast doubt over elements of the migrant’s claims and said because he has been away for so long he may avoid being targeted.
But he said because of the previous ‘erroneous’ and ‘unsustainable’ ruling, a fresh hearing must be held.
‘All in all, I cannot be satisfied that the judge would necessarily have found that the [Jamaican] would not be at risk from the One Order Gang had she taken a permissible approach to credibility’, Judge O’Brien added.