Falsely jailed man wins damages

A Dutch national falsely imprisoned for four months by the Home Office has won £60,000 in damages at the High Court.

Somalian-born Abdillaahi Muuse, 40, of Milton Keynes, was jailed in August 2006 for six months for assaulting his wife and breaching a restraining order.

But because Mr Muuse had already been in custody for 147 days, he was ordered to be released immediately.

However, the Home Office still detained him until December 2006. It also ignored documents proving he was Dutch.

Deputy Judge John Leighton Williams QC said he considered the conduct of the Home Office's servants or agents as being "particularly deserving of condemnation".

"This is an appalling indictment on the way the Home Office and Her Majesty's Prison Service were operating in 2006 when detaining the claimant," the judge said.

'Malicious conduct'

The Home Office admitted falsely imprisoning Mr Muuse and accepted his entitlement to compensatory damages.

However it disputed that the father of six was entitled to aggravated and exemplary damages.

The judge disagreed, awarding Mr Muuse £25,000 in basic damages, £7,500 in aggravated damages and a "significant punitive" award of £27,500 exemplary damages.

He condemned the Home Office's "high handed, insulting, malicious and oppressive conduct".

Mr Muuse, of Conniburrow, acquired a Dutch passport in 2000 after seeking asylum and brought his family to England, the High Court heard.

The defence case was that Mr Muuse was detained pending consideration of deportation because it was wrongly believed he was a Somali national, as his identity had been confused with someone of a similar name.

Mr Muuse said in evidence that during his period of detention at Woodhill prison he was terrified he would be sent back to Somalia.

"Every morning I went to reception and filled out a general application form, asking for my documents.

"I never got a response. No one came to see me. I could not sleep."