Refusal of international protection quashed after tribunal failed to consider key police summons

The High Court set aside a decision by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) which had refused international protection to an applicant and her children on the grounds that her claim, based on alleged persecution due to her bisexuality in Nigeria, lacked credibility and supporting documentation. The court found that the IPAT failed to consider a key document—a purported police summons from Nigeria referencing prosecution for same-sex activity—that was submitted to the tribunal before the hearing. This omission was central, as the tribunal’s adverse credibility finding expressly relied on a supposed absence of corroborative evidence. The court ruled this was a material procedural failure, warranting a remittal of the appeal for reconsideration by a differently constituted tribunal panel, and granted an extension of time for the judicial review application as the delay had not prejudiced the proceedings or respondents.