Drug dealer caught in Brighton loses deportation battle

A man who was jailed after being caught with drugs in Brighton has lost his legal battle against deportation.

Nathan Black, 23, travelled from London to Brighton to supply heroin and crack cocaine.

In April last year he was jailed for 28 months for two counts of having drugs with intent to supply at Lewes Crown Court.

And now he must return to Jamaica even though he arrived in Britain as a five-year-old and grew up and went to school here, spending part of his childhood in care.

He has never been back to the country of his birth and said that he could be in danger if he were to be deported there.

But the Home Secretary ordered that Black be deported so he took his case to a tribunal where First-Tier Tribunal Judge Clive Broe backed the decision to remove him.

At the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) at Field House, in London, Judge Helen Rimington said: “The appellant had been convicted of possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply – and the (first-tier tribunal) judge had given careful consideration to the (crown court) judge’s sentencing comments and that the appellant travelled from London to Brighton to supply the drugs.

“The judge sentencing noted in his comments the damage to those who have used drugs and the effects on community generally.

“The first-tier tribunal judge found the nature of these offences weighed heavily in the balance.”

Upper Tribunal Judge Rimington said: “He took GCSEs at secondary school and went to college to do an apprenticeship.

“He could not continue with this because his lack of status meant he could not work.

“He maintained he first learned of his lack of status when he was arrested in 2016.

“He was issued with papers in 2014 and told he had indefinite leave to remain.”

She also said that the first-tier tribunal judge “emphasised the high public interest in deporting foreign criminals”, adding “very compelling reasons will be required if they are to constitute ‘exceptional circumstances’ which outweigh the public interest in deportation.”

She said: “The fact is that the appellant … had not been lawfully resident in the UK for most of his life.”

Judge Rimington upheld the decision of the Home Secretary and the first-tier tribunal.