Jamaican Lesbian Fights Deportation

A lesbian drug dealer is claiming that deporting her to her native Jamaica would breach her human rights. We, of course, are paying for the privilege of exploring her right to stay here:

A drug dealer is appealing against her deportation on the grounds it will violate her human rights as a lesbian.

The Jamaican argues she will be persecuted for her homosexuality if she is returned to her home country at the end of her sentence.

She had a boyfriend before her conviction for supplying class-A drugs, but has since had several same-sex lovers in prison.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal heard that the woman, called A for legal reasons, wants to stay in the UK where she says she has found love with a fellow inmate.

But the Home Office refuses to accept the relationship is genuine and said it was just a ruse to get her deportation order returned.

They argue her same-sex relations were merely the result of the lack of male alternatives - similar to one of the lesbian flings depicted in prison dramas such as Bad Girls. Her case is set to cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds.

A, who is 24, was introduced to drugs by a former boyfriend, but since her conviction in 2005 she claims to have had at least six lesbian lovers.

She says in Jamaica she faces the threat of criminal gangs who would set out to kill her because of her homosexuality.

Her legal case is that deporting her would violate her rights to life, freedom of expression, a private life and freedom from discrimination.

But the Home Office believes her alleged relationship is 'part and parcel of a campaign to be allowed to stay in the UK'.

They claim that as A's alleged girlfriend is also Jamaican, there is nothing stopping the couple returning to the Caribbean and setting up home there together.

The Court of Appeal was told that A met the woman she says she loves while they were both inmates at Downview, in Surrey.

Carine Patry Hoskins, for the Home Office, said that it 'did not accept' that the relationship was genuine.

She added that it was little surprise that A had been a lesbian when in prison. 'If she wanted to be sexually active, there was no other option,' she said. 'There was no other choice but celibacy.'

A, who is fighting her case using legal aid, said she was 'lost and frightened' when she left Jamaica as a teenager, but is now more confident-about who she is.

She says she had homosexual and heterosexual relationships before being imprisoned, but had become 'more socially confident' behind bars, and as a result, had confirmed in her mind her lesbianism.

She is challenging her deportation notice, served earlier this year. Her barrister, S Chelvan, said that as a lesbian she would be in danger if returned to Jamaica.

He also attacked the Home Office for withdrawing two concessions it had made to A before her asylum appeal was heard.

Mr Chelvan said officials had agreed that if it was found she was a lesbian then she would be 'at risk' in Jamaica, and had also accepted she was in a lesbian relationship.

He said the Home Office's behaviour was a 'public disgrace' and had 'undermined public confidence' in the immigration system.

The Home Office conceded that A's case will have to be remitted to an appeal tribunal to decide whether she will be at risk if returned to Jamaica, but still disputes her claim to be involved in a lesbian relationship.