The High Court has ruled a family of asylum seekers unlawfully detained in a night-time raid and flown to Germany nearly six years ago must be returned to the UK.
Home Secretary Theresa May has also been ordered to pay the five family members a total of some £37,000 in compensation.
A judge said the violation of the rights of the husband, his mentally-ill wife and their son and two daughters, now aged between 14 and 23, entitled them to return to the UK, if they so wished.
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Mr Justice Cranston, sitting in London, awarded basic and aggravated damages after a QC for the family, who are asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, described their treatment as "a moral outrage".
Lawyers for the family said the ruling was "a tremendous relief" to the family, and they would be returning to the UK - "which is something they have been longing for, for nearly six years". Manjit Gill QC, representing them in court, described how they were taken from their beds and flown out of the country after being denied access to legal advice.
The QC said the family, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had their north London home raided at 2am on January 10, 2006 by immigration and police officers. A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We are disappointed with this decision and will be looking carefully at our next steps."
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