The landmark immigration case Sarbah vs. Home Office (1985) was the first to use DNA testing to prove a mother-son relationship between Christiana Sarbah and her son Andrew.

The case started in 1983 when Andrew, then 13, arrived in England after a long stay in Ghana with Christiana’s estranged husband. Immigration officials held him at Heathrow Airport, claiming his passport was forged, or that a substitution had been made. Only after intervention by a local MP was Andrew allowed to stay at his family’s home in London.

Various genetic-determining tests showed that Christiana and Andrew were almost certainly related however, it was impossible to determine whether Christiana was his mother or merely an aunt (Christiana has several sisters in Ghana). The photographic evidence and depositions were rejected at an immigration hearing, but deportation was delayed pending an appeal.

Around the same time, an article in The Guardian reported the discovery of DNA fingerprinting by Prof. Alec Jeffreys and his team at the University of Leicester.
2012 predictions