- Criminal served prison sentence for murder and other ‘very serious infractions’
An Albanian gangster convicted of murder in his home country has been granted anonymity after seeking asylum in the UK, to protect him from rivals.
The criminal served a life sentence for murder and other “very serious crimes” before being released and traveling to Britain by ship.
Following his arrest, a judge ruled that his identity should be withheld from the public “for security reasons”, after he claimed to have been threatened by the gangster’s rivals.
Conservative MP David Morris said Sun: “It is a scandalous decision that shows contempt for British citizens.”
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Philip Davies said revealing the middle-aged man’s identity and criminal record was “clearly in the public interest”.
The criminal served prison time for murder and other “very serious crimes” in his home country before arriving in Britain by boat.
Judge Nicholas Aldridge, sitting in the court’s hearing centre, said nothing could be published that could “directly or indirectly” identify the criminal, including his previous crimes.
The Albanian is detained in an immigration center, pending a decision on whether he can be deported.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is another shocking example of why we must stop the boats.”
It comes after new figures revealed that only 215 of the 45,755 migrants who crossed the English Channel in small boats last year have been deported.
More than 25,000 of them were found to be refugees, despite government claims that most of those crossing in small boats are economic migrants.
The figures, based on Home Office data, also show that one in five migrant carcasses are children.
A group of migrants are taken ashore on a boat in Dover, Kent.
Last year saw a record number of arrivals at Dover: 1,104 boats with an average of 41 people each day.
Data obtained through a Freedom of Information request showed that only 0.47 per cent of total immigrant arrivals have been deported, including seven who were declared criminals.
And Dover Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke said deportation rates are so low that they no longer deter those traveling to the UK by small boat.
He also urged Home Secretary Suella Braverman to “control” the processing of migrant arrivals, stopping boats leaving France so they cannot reach the UK.
Priti Patel, as Home Secretary in 2021, stated that “70% of people traveling in small boats are single men who are effectively economic migrants.”
But the Home Office has now admitted, through a Freedom of Information request, that it had no evidence to support this claim. The statement has not been corrected.
Of the 45,755 migrants who crossed the English Channel in boats last year, only 215 have been deported