R (Kambadzi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

This case involves an appeal by Shepherd Masimba Kambadzi, a Zimbabwean national, against the Court of Appeal's decision that he is not entitled to damages for false imprisonment. The appellant had been detained pending deportation after overstaying his leave in the UK and completing a prison sentence for criminal offences. The key legal issues revolve around whether the Secretary of State's failure to comply with his published policy on regular reviews of detention amounts to an abuse of power that renders the detention unlawful. The court had to determine if the failure to conduct the required reviews constituted a breach of public law that justified a claim for damages for false imprisonment.

The court held that while the appellant was lawfully detained at the outset, the Secretary of State's repeated failures to comply with the system of reviews mandated by his published policy amounted to an abuse of power. The published policy required that the detention be reviewed at regular intervals by officials of increasing seniority. The failure to conduct these reviews was a breach of the Secretary of State's public law duty to follow his published policy. Although the court acknowledged that not every public law error would justify a claim for damages, in this case, the failure to adhere to the published policy without good reason could amount to an abuse of power that renders the detention unlawful. The court found that the appellant was entitled to damages for the periods during which his detention was unlawful due to the failure to conduct the required reviews.