DS v Secretary of State for the Home Department: trafficking victim's deportation appeal dismissed

An Albanian man recognised by the Home Office as a victim of modern slavery has nonetheless failed in his appeal against deportation, after the First-tier Tribunal rejected key elements of his account of ongoing risk and found he could safely relocate within Albania.

The appellant, referred to as DS under an anonymity order, entered the UK clandestinely in December 2013 and was administratively removed in 2018 following a conviction for driving offences. He re-entered the country in 2021 and was later convicted of an offence relating to the production of a Class B drug, after police found him working in a cannabis operation in Kent. Following service of notice of intention to deport, he raised a protection claim and was referred to the National Referral Mechanism, which in September 2023 concluded he was a victim of modern slavery by way of forced criminality. The Home Office nonetheless refused his protection and human rights claims in March 2025, giving rise to this appeal.

Much of DS's account was accepted by the Home Office, including that he had come to the adverse attention, while still in Albania, of a local moneylender referred to in the judgement as AM, and had subsequently been trafficked to the UK and forced into criminal work. He described being subjected to serious violence, including a sexual assault, after initially resisting the work he was made to do, before escaping and later being intercepted by the same group and forced to work in cannabis cultivation in Kent, leading to his arrest.

Judge Moon accepted that DS's account of the initial exploitation was broadly credible but rejected his claim to have subsequently been located and re-trafficked by AM's group after moving between UK cities, finding the account of how the gang supposedly discovered his whereabouts unconvincing and inconsistent with his evidence that he had told no one of his plans out of fear. The judge similarly found DS had not established that AM commanded significant reach or influence, noting inconsistencies across his asylum interviews about the extent of AM's power and the absence of any supporting media evidence, despite DS's claim that AM's activities had been reported in the press.

Applying the recent country guidance decision in LR (Male VOTs) Albania, the judge assessed DS's individual vulnerabilities, including diagnosed depression and PTSD symptoms managed through medication and talking therapy, against his demonstrated ability to support himself financially, having previously worked as a taxi driver in Tirana. The judge found no reasonable basis to conclude DS would be unsafe anywhere in Albania, that state protection would generally be available to him as a recognised trafficking victim, and that internal relocation would be reasonable.

A separate claim under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, based on DS's mental health conditions, was dismissed for want of clear and cogent medical evidence, the tribunal noting that his symptoms had been managed with relatively low-level intervention and that no deterioration had been demonstrated.

On deportation, the judge found DS met the definition of a persistent offender given his repeated illegal entry and offending, meaning the public interest in his deportation applied, and that he could not meet either statutory exception to deportation given his unlawful residence throughout and limited private life in the UK. The judge concluded that the public interest in deportation was strong and outweighed the limited factors favouring DS, dismissing the appeal in full on both protection and human rights grounds.