'THERE WERE 20 POLICE OFFICERS...THEY CAME IN LIKE IT WAS A DRUGS RAID'
Notts-born musician Rockin' Dave Taylor has marked the end of a legal nightmare during which he faced the threat of prison under the Immigration Act for helping an alleged illegal immigrant - his Brazilian wife Rosyane Costa-Ferreira. Andy Smart and David Byers report.
It was dawn on the picturesque Kent coast when Dave Taylor's peace was shattered by a police raid on his home.
It was the beginning of a legal nightmare for the Arnold-born star of the boogie-woogie music world - known as Rockin' Dave Taylor. "There were about 20 police officers... they came in like it was a drugs raid," said the 48-year- old entertainer.
He was arrested and held in a police station for two days in July, 2004. He was then charged under the 1971 Immigration Act on two counts of facilitating an illegal entry to the UK and knowingly harbouring someone once they were in the country - crimes which carry a maximum 14-year jail sentence.
The person in question was Brazilian nurse Rosyane Costa-Ferreira, the woman he had been living with for more than 8 years. He says there was a visa in her passport which proved she had permission to be in the UK. But the passport is alleged to have 'gone missing' among documents seized in the raid. It has never been recovered.
While Mr Taylor was being bailed, Rosyane was deported back to South America. It was six months before they met again - in Spain where Mr Taylor has a holiday home. For 15 months he fought to clear his name. The case was due to be heard at Canterbury Crown Court, but hours before he was to appear, prosecutors dropped all charges - leaving tax payers with a bill of at least £50,000.
Today, Mr Taylor spoke of his anger at his ordeal. Legal experts and race relations chiefs questioned how the case was allowed to carry on for so long. Mr Taylor married Rosyane in 2005. They had been living together in the UK for more than 8 years. He said he has been left thousand of pounds out of pocket, and has been on medication for depression as a result of the wrangle. "My professional and home life have been thoroughly disrupted. I have been under severe stress. "It was a very difficult time for both Rosyane and myself - but our relationship survived because we are committed to one another.
"I have waded through hundreds of pages of jargon presented by the prosecution and spent months going through documents in preparation for the trial. "If my experience reflects the standard of the British justice system, I think it leaves very much to be desired."
Immigration law expert Nicola Appleton, of solicitors Lewis Silkin, said: "I'm astonished that it got to this stage. It does seem an enormous waste of taxpayers' money."
Lord Ouseley, former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said the case left him "depressed and despondent" about the state of the management and administration in the Home Office's immigration and nationality services. He said: "I am staggered how any one can penetrate this incompetent bureaucracy."
Mr Taylor's MP Julian Brazier, the Conservative member for Canterbury and Whitstable, told the Evening Post the police and crown prosecution service had become obsessed with this case, when there were many far more serious immigration issues to deal with. "This has been an extremely strange business, and it seems to me that he [Dave Taylor] has been given extremely rough treatment," the MP said. "I am someone who has taken immigration very seriously, but when a guy has this sort of problem bringing his wife into the country, something has obviously gone very wrong. "He is a British citizen and has been all his life - he was born and bred here. The whole thing is extremely stupid."
Mr Taylor was arrested at his home near Herne Bay, Kent, in a dawn raid in July 2004. Mr Taylor, who has performed at venues worldwide, including Japan, Hong Kong and Russia, was held for two days in a police cell. He says he was told in his initial police interview he was suspected of masterminding a major people- smuggling operation. Documents seized from his home proved swiftly that the only foreign national he had travelled with was Rosyane, who had regularly accompanied him to gigs on the Continent.
His lawyers advised him to plead guilty and accept a prison term of four years, instead of fighting and risking a much longer sentence.
Mr Taylor, who has played with such celebrities as Bill Haley and Chuck Berry, insists Rosyane was in Britain legally at all times.
His wife has now been given permission to live in the UK by the same people who prosecuted the case - namely the Immigration service. The CPS has admitted the decision to drop the charges, the day before the case was due to be heard in court, was taken on "public interest" grounds, after the Immigration Service had given Rosyane permission to stay in the country.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: "We cannot comment on individual cases."
Mr Taylor's Legal Aid assistance cost taxpayers more than £50,000.
The final bill for taxpayers, including CPS costs, will be well in excess of £100,000.
