British border agency was wrong to deport Thai bride

Published

by

Andrew Drummond 

on January 30, 2011

in General News

Tribunal rules kilt maker ‘who clicked wrong button’ on website cannot easily get rid of Thai bride

FROM ANDREW DRUMMOND
BANGKOK
January 30 2011

A Thai bride who was summarily deported after her 67-yr-old Scottish kilt maker husband decided the marriage was over has won her Immigration Appeal against the British Border Agency
Kanokrat Nimsamoot Booth, aged, 41,  a former Thai daily newspaper journalist and magazine editor,  was arrested by Immigration officers at Glasgow airport last year,  jailed in a police station overnight, and then deported on a flight back to Bangkok.
But at the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber  a judge has ruled that the deportation was illegal.

Kanokrat and Dennis Booth being blessedby monks in Thailand

In the initial refusal notice the Border Agency stated that Mrs. Booth, who arrived on a Residence Permit last May, had come to see a man, who was not her husband, and that the marriage to kilt-maker Dennis Booth from   ‘was no longer subsisting’.  Furthermore  Mrs. Booth had arrived in Britain without the knowledge of her husband.
Mrs. Booth agreed that there were problems with her marriage which needed to be sorted out, but her husband Dennis Booth, a kilt maker from Galashiels  was fully aware of her intended arrival and as he had said he could not pick her up from the airport, she was being picked up by the husband of a friend of hers. She denied an affair.
Mr. Dennis Booth ran a shop called ‘A’ the best fae Scotland’ in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile before moving to the borders and Galashiels where he runs ‘The Kilt Shop’.
Senior Immigration Judge Gill ruled that the action by the Border Agency was illegal. “Under EEA Regulations nothing short of a divorce terminates a marriage.”
The Border Agency did not have the powers to refuse her entry to Britain or cancel her Residence permit.
In Bangkok today Kanokrat Booth said she was pleased with the news. “Without any evidence I was accused of having an affair with another man, which was a lie, and I was humiliated. I was treated like a prostitute. I now wish to go back to Scotland, collect my belongings from my husband’s house and go through proper divorce proceedings”.
 She said she was surprised at her husband’s actions as just three months before she was deported Dennis had sent her a very romantic Valentine’s Day message.  She would return to the U.K. when a visa was formerly granted.
“But first I have to discuss this with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand who are concerned at the plight of some Thai wives in the U.K.”
Mrs. Booth has been on a whistle-stop tour of Thailand giving lectures at Universities warning of the perils of taking on a foreign husband. She has also written a book called: “Miracle of Love - My husband came from the wrong button” on the same subject.
It comes from an expression, she said, which was used by her husband - whom she met on a computer dating site, to insult her.  If she displeased him in some way, she said Dennis Booth would complain he clicked on the wrong button on the website and picked the wrong bride.
Dennis Booth was unavailable for comment.
Memo: Pretty sure Booth will be around later in the day if he is not on his travels
*EEA – European Economic Area
Appeal No  OA 14481/2010
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2010/12/11/culture-shock-a-thai-brides-fight-for-dignity/

« Thai policeman goes down for Pai murder

7 Responses to “British border agency was wrong to deport Thai bride”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

January 31, 2011 at 2:16 am

Dear colleague,

Without your comment, a nice story but the comment was a bit so so, ok?

Andrew Drummond: Thank you. I have edited the comment because not even his wife thinks Dennis Booth is a bad man. I have no idea what was on the husband’s mind, but he may have been advised that this was the way to solve a problem marriage.

2 Tony

January 31, 2011 at 5:22 am

“Mrs. Booth has been on a whistle-stop tour of Thailand giving lectures at Universities warning of the perils of taking on a foreign husband.”

That’s an interesting fact that supports the hearsay that is said about thai attitudes towards farangs. I wonder how the thai’s would respond if western countries started to get people going around on a “whistle stop tour” warning about the perils of having a thai wife. And of my lordy how some stories (yes real, not exaggerated Andrew) could be revealed!

Andrew Drummond:: I think in the publicity stakes Thai wives or brides are streets ahead of foreign husbands. Ting Tong Macadangdang comes to mind.
However you’re right. Someone should tour the streets of the UK on whistlestop tour warning husbands that when visiting Thailand they should ensure their brains accompany them.
But my lordy if you come to this site often you will see that nothing surprises me.
Racism is institutionilsed here, probably I fear still widespread in the UK, but there it is legislated against.

3 Ting Tong

January 31, 2011 at 7:19 am

Poor Tony and hundreds of other boogers who got screwed first in their own country and then in Asia.

Whats their problem? women are so easy to figure out!

Andrew Drummond:: Now why do I think that’s your REAL name?

4 stretch

January 31, 2011 at 9:37 am

way to go british immigration appeals / court system .

now who pays for her flight back ?

5 Peter Marshall

January 31, 2011 at 6:24 pm

Dennis Booth’s response to this story would be interesting.

And for that matter - are Kanokrat and Dennis still in contact with one another - other than through their lawyers?

None of our business - I guess - but interesting all the same.

Difficult to comment on specific relationships. I guess only Kanokrat and Dennis at the end of the day know the whole story and the true reasons for this failed relationship. Speculation as to the ins and outs of this relationship - and the real reasons for this failed discourse between them - will remain speculative in the extreme until they both speak out candidly and truthfully. And maybe in unison. That’s if they ever wish to do so at anytime in the future.

Incidentally anything said publicly and disparagingly by Kanokrat against her husband in these lecture tours - if anything slanderous has been said at all - would of course be considered bad form and very revealing. Let’s hope not.

“Miracle Of Love - My husband came from the wrong button”. (Forward/Introduction by Dennis Booth?)

Having said that - a good decision by UK Immigration.
:Andrew Drummond: I do not believe she makes personal remarks about her husband and consistently says he is a good man, but I would imagine her case would be a study case in some ways.

6 Lloyd

January 31, 2011 at 9:00 pm

The EEA, an EU regulation, statute is actually in dispute and is scheduled to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights in July 2011, the appeal is based on the premise that the regulation is based on Catholic prejudices, and not valid in a multicultural society. Under British common law the term “dissolution of marriage” applies only to a divorce however a published statutory declaration of separation is enough to define a marriage as being terminated for financial purposes.

Davinder Gil is well known for issuing judgments in favor of female complainants, she was explicitly named during a BBC Panorama documentary on immigration rorts in 2009.

7 Tony

February 1, 2011 at 6:00 am

The point that I was making Andrew was how would the Thais react to hearing that countries are “warning” their citizens of the “perils” of marrying thais. The double standards game which should come as no surprise to you. If the thais had any interest of equality to hearing the full story, they would allow an educated farang to accompany this whistle-stop tour to provide a response to whatever she’s throwing out there. Thai wives are streets ahead in the publicity stakes??? There are good and bad stories out there but lets not sugar coat reality. That statement was a long bow to draw Andrew