David Burgess (lawyer)

Burgess in July 2010

David Burgess (25 September 1947 – 25 October 2010)[1] was a leading British immigration lawyer.

Burgess obtained a number of landmark decisions from British courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on behalf of immigrant clients. Notably, as a result of an ECHR decision[2] in favour of 52 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers represented by Burgess, British law was changed to allow asylum seekers to appeal against refusal of asylum before having to leave the country.[1]

Burgess was married to Youdon Lhamo, and they had three children (two biological and one adopted) in their twenty years of marriage. In 2005, they separated. Burgess, who was transgender, then began to transition from male to female, adopting the name Sonia Burgess,[1][3] but continued to use the name and gender assigned at birth whilst practicing law.

In October 2010, Burgess was killed after being pushed under a train.[4][5] The perpetrator, Senthooran 'Nina' Kanagasingham, was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to schizophrenia, and was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment with a minimum of seven years to serve.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bawdon, Fiona (2 November 2010). "David Burgess obituary: Influential lawyer and tenacious defender of asylum seekers' rights". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
  2. ↑ Vilvarajah and others v. The United Kingdom, application no. 13163/87.
  3. ↑ Day, Elizabeth (9 January 2011). "The extraordinary life and death of David Burgess". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
  4. ↑ Topping, Alexandra (1 November 2010). "Woman accused of tube murder was undergoing sex change". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
  5. ↑ Hough, Andrew (26 October 2010). "Murder inquiry 'after woman pushed under Tube train at Kings Cross station during joke'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  6. ↑ Walker, Peter (22 December 2011). "Man who pushed solicitor under tube train jailed for life". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
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