The Court of Appeal has upheld the Upper Tribunal’s decision to depart from the wording contained in the headnote of the country guidance case AB (Protection, criminal gangs, internal relocation) Jamaica CG [2007] UKAIT 00018. This guidance applies to protection and Article 3 claims where a Jamaican national would face harm from criminal gangs unless they are admitted to the Jamaican government’s witness protection programme.
In the First-tier Tribunal, the Home Secretary successfully argued that the correct test was whether it was reasonably likely that an individual would be admitted to the programme. The Upper Tribunal disagreed, concluding the correct test was whether it was reasonably likely they would not be admitted to the programme, which is a lower threshold. This was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The case is Secretary of State for the Home Department v CP [2026] EWCA Civ 892.
Background
CP was born in 1984 and entered Jamaica’s witness protection programme with his mother in 1997 after she gave evidence at a gang leader’s murder trial. Her evidence led to the gang leader’s conviction and imprisonment. CP came to the UK in 2001 as a visitor and was granted leave to remain as a student, which expired in 2002. He has resided in the UK without leave ever since.
