Human rights breached by government

Court hears Cabinet Office should have let overseas worker come home

A court judgement has found the government's actions caused a breach of human rights in January 2021.

Douglas Bayley took former Chief Minister Howard Quayle and Chief Secretary Will Greenhow to court, over the revocation of his Manx Entry Permit in December 2020.

Deemster Andrew Corlett upheld his claim against Mr Greenhow, but the claim against Mr Quayle was dismissed.

The court heard that Mr Bayley, who represented himself, was rightly aggrieved, and he was deprived of "the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions", in terms of Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights.

What happened?

Mr Bayley was granted a Manx Entry Permit on 24 November 2020, but this was revoked a month later on 29 December.

Working as an engineer in the Middle East, Mr Bayley had been forced to live in a hotel in Egypt after Saudi Arabia imposed an indefinite border restriction.

Whilst in the hotel, he contacted the Isle of Man Travel Notification Service, seeking confirmation that he could return to the Island for 48 hours to meet with his advocate and facilitate the sale of his Island home to its tenants.

In a chain of emails, civil servants told Mr Bayley that simply owning a home on the Isle of Man did not mean he was considered a resident, and pointed out that it was being lived in by other people.

Through the chain, Mr Bayley persisted that his Manx home was his only home, and he considered himself to be an Isle of Man resident, paying tax each year.

On New Year's Eve in 2020, Mr Bayley began offering new scenarios.

He suggested he would ask the existing tenants to vacate his property on the expiry of their lease on 13 January, at which point he and his family would return.

Mr Bayley also later asked what would happen if he lost his job, and found himself without anywhere to live in the Middle East.

The civil service maintained that he would not be considered a resident, and would therefore, be denied entry.

What was the ruling?

Deemster Corlett's judgement says "A hotel in Egypt, occupied at the whim of his employer, cannot be considered a home", and Mr Bayley should have been advised that from 14 January, he would have been permitted entry to what could reasonably be considered his only home.

The court heard Mr Bayley was, in effect, forced to sell his home rather than occupy it himself.

The judge said reasons given by the civil servants, surrounding the Island's isolation requirements, missed the point of Mr Bayley's alternative circumstances.

Deemster Corlett was disappointed that Mr Bayley, who represented himself in court, didn't research which of his human rights he thought had been broken.

Mr Corlett also wrote that Mr Bayley's "somewhat intemperate emails ... often brusque or frankly rude" did not help the situation.

The claim against former Chief Minister Howard Quayle was dismissed.