Windrush immigrant's son loses High Court fight

The Empire Windrush brought West Indian immigrants to Britain

The son of a Windrush generation immigrant has lost a High Court fight with the Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Damian Gabrielle, 39, who moved from St Lucia to Britain at 18, wants to challenge the decision to "refuse to regularise" his immigration status.

A High Court judge refused to give him the go-ahead to seek a judicial review.

Mr Gabrielle, of Catford, south-east London, says he is "devastated" by Mrs Justice Ellenbogen's conclusion that he did not have an arguable case.

Lawyers representing Mr Gabrielle said his father, Alexander Prospere, arrived in the UK after leaving St Lucia aged 19 in 1961.

Barrister Grace Brown, who led Mr Gabrielle's legal team, told the judge the government's Windrush Scheme said a child of a Commonwealth citizen parent who arrived in the UK before the age of 18 could qualify for leave to remain.

Ms Brown said Mr Prospere was a "Windrush victim" and argued that he was unable to support his son's bid to enter the UK before Mr Gabrielle turned 18 because his status as a British citizen was not confirmed until 2019.

People arriving in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries have become known as the Windrush generation.

It refers to the ship MV Empire Windrush, which docked in Tilbury on 22 June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, to help fill post-war UK labour shortages.

The ship carried 492 passengers, many of them children.