UK Home Office admits error: Wrongly deported Winston Knight to return from Jamaica after 12 years

Jamaica: After more than a decade living on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, the 64-year-old Winston Knight is finally being allowed to return to the United Kingdom. According to the information, the UK Home Office has officially revoked the man’s deportation order and has admitted their error saying that he is a part of the Windrush generation as he lived in the UK for over 47 years after arriving from the island nation as a child in 1966.  

Reportedly, Knight was wrongly deported to Jamaica in 2013 after a minor conviction during the riots of 2011. This led to him hire a team of lawyers who argued that it was an ‘opportunistic mistake’ and emphasised that his removal was unlawful. He had no family ties on the island of Jamaica and spent 12 years homeless and was traumatized by violence and living in fear, argued his lawyer.  

Soon after the reports of Knight winning the case came out, he said that he is doing much better now, and he knows he has won his case and will be returning to the United Kingdom.  

He further added, “I’m coming from hell. I survived by eating from the market and was called a ‘deportee’ and ‘English’ in Jamaica. I am grateful I survived. Thank God.” 

Meanwhile, his lawyer, Nina Kamp of Duncan Lewis Solicitors said that Knight has suffered unimaginable harm being homeless in an extremely volatile environment for a total of 12 years. Kamp said that this case ranks among the gravest Windrush injustices they have seen. 

Kamp noted, “The Home Secretary has formally acknowledged that Winston Knight is a member of the Windrush generation and was unlawfully deported to Jamaica in 2013, following a judicial review challenge brought by our team.”  

Despite the acceptance of fault by the Home Office, no official apology has yet been offered by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper who conceded the case just a few hours before the final hearing. 

Winston Knight is now expected to return to the UK in the coming weeks, just before Windrush Day on June 22.