A Labour MP drew fierce criticism after he defended that judge that allowed a notorious Nigerian con artist to remain in the UK, despite being imprisoned for duping women out of nearly £200,000. Emmanuel Jack, 35, preyed on vulnerable women he encountered on dating sites, convincing them to part with their cash. After his lucrative scam was uncovered, Jack was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2014.
Despite having his British citizenship, granted in 1997, revoked by the Home Office after serving time, Jack is now permitted to stay in Britain due to his family’s reliance on NHS treatment. Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, appeared on GB News and voiced his thoughts on the case, saying: “Context is everything, so let’s get the facts straight. … You do the crime, you pay your time. That’s what he did.” He argued that the con man was “saving us a great deal of money as taxpayers” by looking afer his family, which was met with boos and cheering from the audience.
Host Patrick Christys was forced to step in, saying: “That’s riled them up … Don’t say we don’t have a range of opinions.”
Jack faced deportation in November 2022 but launched a legal battle to stay in the country. An Immigration and Asylum tribunal concluded that deporting him would be excessively harsh on his dependents his wife and children need his support for their health complications.
The court learned that Jack married his British wife following his release from prison, and they have been together for six years.
The judge determined that it would be “unlikely” for his family to find the same level of “bespoke” medical care in Nigeria that they currently receive from the NHS.
Jack’s youngest daughter, aged 18 months, who was born prematurely, requires constant attention and medical supervision. His eldest daughter, six years old, suffers from vision issues.
Jack argued that “deportation would have an unduly harsh effect on his partner and children and amount to a disproportionate interference with the private life he had established in the United Kingdom”.
His priest also defended him, stating that “deportation would have a deleterious effect on family life and would be disastrous”.
The court was informed that Jack has a “deep involvement in the care of [his children]” and is a “loving and very hands-on father who plays a key role in their upbringing”.
The judges commented: “Moving to Nigeria would significantly disrupt that care, frustrate ongoing investigations and end the consistency of care that they have each been receiving to date.
“We consider that even if treatment is available, it is considerably harder to get treatment for all three of them in the same location.”