The Home Office has conceded that they unlawfully detained a highly vulnerable Chinese woman who is a survivor of trafficking. Women for Refugee Women visited this Chinese woman in Yarl’s Wood and referred her to Shalini Patel at Duncan Lewis solicitors, who has now worked with Garden Court Chambers to ensure that the Home Office has now conceded that her detention was unlawful.

Sarah Cope, research officer at Women for Refugee Women, said: ‘When I visited this woman in Yarl’s Wood, it was obvious to me that she should never have been locked up, such was the appalling state of her mental and physical health. There are many more women in detention who have been trafficked and sexually exploited, and who are being locked up indefinitely by the Home Office.’

Natasha Walter, director of Women for Refugee Women, said: ‘This case exposes how vulnerable women are being harmed by current Home Office practice. It is crystal clear that many women who are being locked up in Yarl’s Wood are victims of trafficking, including forced prostitution, and yet instead of following its own rules to protect victims, the Home Office is subjecting them to detention and threats of deportation. It is shocking and heartrending that this is happening in the UK. Change needs to happen, fast.’