25-year-old man from Sudan identified as ‘JS’, was given a 4-year sentence in 2008 after luring 13 and 14-year-old schoolgirls to a house for sex but he remained behind bars when his sentence came to an end.
The foreign criminal jailed for sex offences is to receive damages after a court ruled he had been held for too long while ministers tried to kick him out of Britain.
The Court of Appeal ruled that eight months of his detention was ‘unreasonable and unlawful’. He claimed he could not be deported because he was a member of the persecuted Zaghawa tribe from Darfur. His family were subjected to intolerable treatment by the majority population of the area, he said.
The foreign criminal jailed for sex offences is to receive damages after a court ruled he had been held for too long while ministers tried to kick him out of Britain.
The Court of Appeal ruled that eight months of his detention was ‘unreasonable and unlawful’. He claimed he could not be deported because he was a member of the persecuted Zaghawa tribe from Darfur. His family were subjected to intolerable treatment by the majority population of the area, he said.
Yesterday the court ruled: ‘His past criminal offending, of itself, cannot be any justification for implementing or extending his time in immigration detention’.
JS arrived in the UK in November 2004, hidden in the back of a lorry. Then apparently aged 16, the immigration authorities immediately discovered his presence in the UK and he claimed asylum.
The claim was rejected in January 2005 on the basis that it was ‘vague, unsubstantiated and lacking in detail’.
However because of his youth, he was given discretionary leave to remain in the UK until his 18th birthday, which was assumed to fall in October 2006.
He made a further application to remain in the UK for ‘humanitarian protection’, and the immigration authorities told him his claim would be considered under the Legacy Programme in due course.
But in May 2007 he was arrested and charged with serious sexual offences against children and remanded in custody.
In February 2008 he was convicted of two ‘sample’ offences of sexual activity with a 13-year-old schoolgirl and sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution.
Now London's High Court will decide how much he should be paid in damages, if the figure cannot be agreed between the Home Office and JS's lawyers.
But the Home Office is now examining all options to appeal against the ruling.
A spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed with the court's decision. We believe it is right that dangerous individuals are kept in detention, wherever possible, in order to protect the public.
"We will continue to seek to deport individuals who show a complete disregard for the laws of this country."
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