Disturbing News:A woman from Uganda who tried to avoid deportation by claiming she was lesbian is in fact heterosexual
Her story made headlines around the world.
Despite attempts by the Home Office to deport her, and a judge's ruling that she should go, a Ugandan woman claiming she was a lesbian managed to stay in Britain.
Even as a plane prepared to take off from Heathrow with Brenda Namigadde on board, her lawyers secured a last-minute injunction to halt her removal from the UK nine days ago.
The failed asylum seeker has been backed by homosexual rights campaigners and MPs, who said she risked being beaten up or arrested if sent back to her African homeland.
However, The Sunday Telegraph has obtained a court judgement which considers Miss Namigadde's case and concludes that she is not, in fact, a lesbian.
The ruling, released following a legal application to the Court of Appeal, discloses that she was unable to remember the surname, age, employer or other details of a woman called Janet with whom she claimed she had a six-year relationship in Uganda.
Nor could she describe a lesbian bar in London that she claimed she visited regularly.
Immigration Judge Toby Davey, who heard the appeal, criticised Miss Namigadde, 28, for a "lack of candour" over her sexuality, and concluded: "I find that the appellant was and is not, on the evidence before me, a lesbian."
Judges in the UK regularly grant permission to stay in Britain to genuinely gay men and women who would be at risk of arrest or attack if they were returned to their homelands.
In Uganda, gay sex is a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
A gay rights activist was murdered last month after a newspaper published his photograph and address, along with those of fellow activists, under the headline "Hang them".
However, judges in English courts have also found in a series of cases that some heterosexual migrants have pretended to be gay in order to claim asylum.
The publication of the facts of Miss Namigadde's case will put a question mark over a campaign by her supporters which gathered more than 60,000 signatures to protest against he deportation, attracting backing from Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, and comments from Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary.
A Commons motion calling on the Government to allow Miss Namigadde to remain in the country has been signed by 25 MPs.
Miss Namigadde told the hearing in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber that while in boarding school in Uganda she began a lesbian relationship with Janet, a Canadian woman who worked for a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
"The appellant says that she and Janet were clearly in love with each other," said the court ruling.
"If that is so it is truly surprising that the appellant does not remember Janet's surname, or any of her circumstances in Canada, or any detail of Janet's employment other than by an NGO, does not know Janet's age and has virtually no coherent explanation as to why she did not return with Janet to Canada."
The court also heard from Miss Namigadde that between 2001 and 2002 she and "Janet" lived openly as lesbians in Uganda, attended gay bars and kissed in public but that it had not led to any persecution.
The judge also found a claim that Miss Namigadde was currently in a relationship with a woman called Susan Nantume to be false.
Of this second relationship, Judge Davey ruled: "The appellant says that she gave particulars of this lady to her solicitors but they have made no contact with her. This lady has not been in contact with the appellant while she has been detained.
"The appellant ... does not know where this lady lives and has not visited her, which seems strange in an ongoing relationship, which she claims to be sincere, of about two years.
"The appellant does not know Susan's date of birth nor where she lives and in the two years has never been to the latter's house.
"I do not find that the appellant has a lesbian relationship with someone called Susan. There is, other than the appellant's evidence, no proof she exists."
Judge Davey stressed that he had made his determination on Miss Namigadde's sexuality according to "simply the evidence" and not by any assessment of "demeanour or appearance".
Miss Namigadde came to Britain in 2002 and overstayed her visa, later lodging an asylum claim. She claimed to have been beaten and victimised over her sexuality. The Home Office refused her claim and began deportation proceedings.
On Jan 28, she was just minutes from being removed from Britain. She had been placed on an aircraft at Heathrow and has said she was shaking with fear at the prospect of returning to Uganda.
But after securing sympathetic coverage in several newspapers, her lawyers won an 11th hour injunction which forced officials to halt the deportation.
The Sunday Telegraph has established that Miss Namigadde's legal team made a series of appeals on that day until they finally secured the injunction at the third attempt.
They first sought permission for judicial review from a judge in the Administrative Court, Mr Justice Lindblom, who refused the application.
In that ruling, the judge referred to comments by Home Office lawyers which said: "The fact that your client has sought to publicise her claimed sexual orientation via the media is not accepted as evidence that she is a lesbian."
Miss Namigadde's lawyers then went to Mr Justice Cranston in the Queen's Bench Division to appeal on different grounds, which was also refused, before applying to Lord Justice Maurice Kay in the Court of Appeal, who issued a "stay" delaying the deportation, and forcing immigration officers to take Miss Namigadde off the aircraft.
The application for permission to appeal is due to be heard in full by Lord Justice Kay tomorrow (***MON).
Despite gay sex being illegal in Uganda, British courts have previously ruled that lesbians were not at risk in the country.
A High Court judgment handed down in February last year concluded the claimant, known as SB, could return to Uganda and continue to live discreetly as a lesbian without fear of persecution.
In Miss Namigadde's case, Judge Davey said of the claimed relationship with "Janet" in Uganda: "Despite the length of time together the appellant says that Janet had a difficult surname and the appellant has no recollection of Janet's surname, the title of the NGO she worked for, where she came from in Canada, her date of birth and, notwithstanding being with Janet for a period of rising six years, did not know how old Janet was.
"I find the claims of attacks in Uganda and the details of them vague and unparticularised."
He also found that the Ugandan asylum seeker was unable to give any detail about a lesbian bar called Candy, in central London, other than its name and admission price, despite claims that she went there once a month.
David Cairns, a Labour MP who signed the Commons motion, said after being told of the conclusions in Miss Namigadde's case: "If she is deliberately lying in order to stay here that is a very serious issue and she should not be granted asylum on that basis.
"However, the fact remains that she is clearly in danger if she is deported. She has got herself into the situation, genuinely or otherwise, where she will be marked down as a lesbian in the eyes of many oppressors."
Miss Namigadde's solicitors could not be reached for comment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews
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