Home Secretary Theresa May has failed in an attempt to overturn a £36,000 damages award made to a failed asylum seeker for wrongful imprisonment.

Nemah Shehadeh, of Petershill Drive, Glasgow, considers herself to be a stateless Palestinian, although the Home Secret­ary regards her as a Jordanian national,

Shehadeh was granted visas to enter Britain in 2000, 2001 and 2002 as a visitor but subsequently overstayed. She was arrested at Heathrow Airport, London, in 2005 attempting to fly to Canada with a false passport.

She was sentenced to four months imprisonment for offences stemming from the incident and recommended for deportation.

Shehadeh was subsequently detained from December 2006 until August 2009 and has since made a fresh claim for asylum on the basis she has converted to Christianity.

Last year a judge held she was unlawfully detained for a year by immigration authorities from August 2008 until August 2009 when she was freed on bail.

Lord Tyre awarded her damages and the Secretary of State appealed against the ruling to three judges at the Court Of Session, Edinburgh.

But Lord Drummond Young, sitting with Lady Dorrian and Lord Philip, said Lord Tyre was "fully justified" in concluding that from August 2008 onwards the immigration authorities were in breach of legal principles that govern the lawfulness of detention in such circumstances.

The Home Secretary also claimed the amount of damages awarded was excessive, but the appeal judges also rejected that argument.