An Albanian criminal caught trying to sneak into the UK three times has avoided deportation after succeeding on a fourth attempt.
Erind Koka, 33, escaped being sent back to Albania because he had been jailed for less than a year for producing a class B drug – cannabis.
He claimed sending him home would breach his rights to a family life, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, because had a daughter and partner in the UK.
And judges ruled Koka’s offending “fell significantly short of… serious harm”.
The Albanian first tried to enter the UK on a passenger plane with false documents.
He was refused entry and deported to Finland. Just seven months later, he was found hiding in a trailer in Dunkirk. In September 2018, he was detected hiding in a camper-van in Coquelles and removed by the French authorities.
He eventually managed to get into the UK illegally, hidden in a lorry on Oct 3 2019.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman believed Koka’s offending had caused serious harm and decided to deport him because his presence in the UK was “not conducive” to the public good.
Foreign national offenders are only typically eligible for deportation if they are sentenced to more than 12 months behind bars.
Koka responded to the deportation order by initially seeking refugee status, but withdrew that attempt and instead claimed the right to stay on the basis that deportation would breach his rights to a family life under article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights.
He had a daughter and partner in the UK, the court was told. Lower-tier immigration tribunal judge Kyriacoulla Degirmenci decided Koka’s offending “fell significantly short of… serious harm” because the Albanian had pleaded guilty.
His involvement in producing cannabis was said to be watering plants on one occasion.
Upper tribunal immigration judges Lesley Smith and David Zucker ruled there had been no error in law.
They said: “No other matters of significance were put in issue. Had the judge gone on to consider matters not put in issue by the Secretary of State, criticism of the judge [might] well have been justified.
“We take this opportunity to remind parties that they and judges alike are now encouraged to narrow the issues as best they can…
“This not only results in the need for shorter decisions by judges, which is now also encouraged but is plainly in the interests of justice and efficiency.
“The appeal of the Secretary of State to the upper tribunal is dismissed on all grounds. The decision of first-tier tribunal Judge Degirmenci does not contain an error of law.
“The decision of the first-tier tribunal is upheld with the consequence that Mr Koka’s appeal remains allowed.”
Home Office officials are examining how judges are applying the rights to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Daily Express can confirm.
A number of cases will be selected and examined for loopholes, it is understood.
This will identify how some human rights lawyers and migrants abuse the law to avoid deportation. Whilst the work is in its “early stages”, ministers have been warned “too many” foreign criminals have been allowed to stay for reasons which “defy common sense”.
There are a record 41,987 outstanding immigration appeals, largely on human rights grounds, which threaten to hamper Labour’s efforts to fast-track removal of illegal migrants. The backlog has risen by nearly a quarter since September and is up nearly 500 per cent from just 7,173 at the start of 2022.
Just seven months later he was found without documentation hidden in a trailer by Border Agency staff at Dunkirk when he had again been attempting to illegally enter the UK. Fury erupted on Tuesday after a Romanian rapist who hid his convictions used human rights laws to avoid being deported.
The sex offender claimed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and used Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to challenge plans to send him back to Romania.
The High Court heard he arrived in Britain in December 2018 after serving almost seven years in jail in Romania for rape.
The man, known only as ZA, applied for settled status on the basis he had a partner here but did not tell the authorities of his previous convictions.
Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice said: “This is yet another bonkers example of where the ECHR has stifled the UK’s ability to protect its own people.
“Reform has been clear that we will deport all foreign criminals. We must leave the ECHR and take control of our borders once and for all.”
Former Immigration Minister Kevin Foster told the Daily Express: “Another day, another dangerous criminal citing human rights to avoid being deported, with the courts more concerned about protecting him than potential victims.”