One of Scotland’s most senior judges had criticised the current British Prime Minister for dismissal of a Tamil asylum claim last year.

Former Lord Advocate Lord Boyd of Duncansby said that then Home Secretary Theresa May had “acted unreasonably” and was “too ready to dismiss” letters from the asylum seeker’s family who insisted his life was under threat in Sri Lanka.

The asylum seeker, a former LTTE cadre, was attempting to stay in Scotland when the Home Secretary refused to allow further evidence to be heard in his case in November 2015.

A July 2013 letter from the claimant’s sister said that she had to flee her home village as she was “unable to tolerate the torture” from Sri Lankan authorities. “However, the menace does not stop there,” she added. “If I do not tell them where you are they have threatened to kill our younger brother so I have sent our younger brother to a foreign country.”

Lord Boyd overturned the Home Secretary’s decision stating that “If taken together at face value, in my opinion, there was evidence from which the Secretary of State could conclude that there is a realistic prospect of success before an immigration judge”.
“I also consider that she has been too ready to dismiss the letters from the petitioner’s sister on the basis that the threats had not been reported to the police and did not provide proof that the threats had taken place,” he added.

“It seems to me to be unrealistic to expect that such threats, if made, would be reported to the police. The letters themselves are offered as proof that threats were made to the family.”

See more from Herald Scotland here.