Sajid Javid can deport mother of FGM risk girl, judge decides

The Home Secretary cannot be barred from deporting a failed asylum seeker whose daughter would be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) if taken abroad, a senior judge decided.

The High Court heard the woman, who has links to Bahrain and Sudan, has been refused asylum by the Home Office.

She fears if she leaves for Bahrain she will be trafficked to Sudan and her daughter will be put at risk.

The case, brought by Suffolk County Council, is the first of its kind.

Social services bosses with responsibility for the nine-year-old girl's welfare had begun High Court litigation and Sir Andrew McFarlane was asked whether a judge could bar Home Secretary Sajid Javid from deporting the girl's mother.

Sir Andrew, president of the Family Division of the High Court and the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, has concluded that a judge cannot make such an order.

He is expected to publish a ruling outlining his reasoning in the near future.

Another judge, Mr Justice Newton, is now scheduled to analyse further issues in the case at future hearings.

Lawyers say Mr Justice Newton, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, will assess issues including the level of risk the girl faces and whether she could be protected abroad.

Mr Justice Newton has, at an earlier hearing, described the case as the first of its kind.

He says it raises public interest issues relating to "tensions" between politicians and the courts.

Judges have ruled that the girl cannot be identified in media reports of the case.