Lunar House, Croydon (picture by Bindmans)
It’s 7.30 am. My client, Vera, looks anxious. Vera fled Cameroon after being subjected to brutal ‘mob-justice’ by people who had found out she was a lesbian. She’s waiting at the agreed meet-up outside Lunar House, a 20 storey office block in Croydon, South London, headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration. For Vera, this forbidding mass of 1970s concrete might be the last sight she has of the UK whilst at liberty.
On claiming asylum, all applicants are considered for their suitability to be placed on the ‘detained fast track procedure’. Those deemed suitable are immediately placed into a detention centre and an ‘accelerated decision’ is made on their asylum claim. Nearly all applicants (99%) put on to this system are refused. Vera could be back in Cameroon within two weeks.
