IA184652012

For the Appellant: Mrs Brooksbank, Counsel, instructed by Henry Hyams and Company

This is the Appellant�s appeal against the decision of Judge Reed made following a hearing at Bradford on 3 rd October 2012.

The judge directed himself to the relevant case law and concluded that the Respondent had not discharged the burden of proof upon her to show that the marriage certificate was a forgery. He then went on to consider whether or not it was reliable evidence of a marriage having taken place.

He had before him a previous appeal determination which related to a claim made by the Appellant that he was dependent upon a half brother who held German nationality. In that determination the previous immigration judge noted inconsistencies between the Appellant and his half brother about his family and he found that he was not related as claimed.

The judge stated that the previous credibility findings had a bearing upon his own assessment of the credibility of the evidence given by the Appellant and also illustrated that official documents from Ghana may not necessarily be reliable evidence. The previous judge had concluded that the Appellant and his witness were not brothers, in spite of what was stated on the Ghanaian birth certificates produced to him.