One of the dozens of migrants in the UK who had charges of illegal immigration dropped due to a technicality is reportedly a convicted murderer in his native Albania.
In November, British authorities intercepted a fishing trawler off the coast of Suffolk, finding aboard and arresting 69 Albanians. The Times revealed last week that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped charges against all of them due to a technicality: the arrests were made before the migrants had set foot on British soil. Ten of the illegals had already pleaded guilty and began their eight-week custodial sentences.
The Daily Express claimed that one of those men whose sentence was quashed is a convicted murderer, who they say shot to death a woman in 1997 in front of the victim’s eight-year-old daughter.
The tabloid reports that due to internal political turmoil in the Balkan country at the time, authorities did not fully investigate the case. Albanian prosecutors charged the man in 2006. Initially found not guilty in 2008, he was found guilty the following year at an appeal court and sentenced to 15 years at a maximum-security prison.
Responding to the news, Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “Sadly, these events seem to show that the interests and safety of the law-abiding public are less important than the questionable rights of those whose awful crimes should dictate their removal.”
According to the newspaper, the man is in a detention centre awaiting removal. It is not known if he has made a claim for asylum. The Home Office would not confirm to the Express if it were aware of the Albanian’s criminal background.
Last week, the government said that after the UK leaves the EU’s rules and regulations on January 1st, it would ban migrants intercepted at sea from claiming asylum.
Under Brussels’ Dublin agreement, the UK may reject asylum claims if the migrant had travelled through safe countries — such as France or Belgium — before arriving in the United Kingdom. However, that does not apply to British territorial waters, where migrants claiming to need rescuing can be picked up by the coastguard or UK Border Force mid-Channel and not be charged with illegal entry. Or in the case of the 69 Albanians, not charged because they were intercepted before stepping foot on British soil.
The plans are part of a wider set of reforms by the Home Office. Home Secretary Priti Patel also intends to make it more difficult for criminal migrants to lodge asylum claims and for activist lawyers to continue to frustrate the government by lodging multiple claims for failed asylum seekers to halt their deportations.
In December, it was reported that one Turkish drug dealer’s deportation was halted on grounds that to return him to his home country — itself a NATO member and applicant to EU membership — was a breach of his human rights, as his life was at risk from the state due to his criminality and ties to Kurdish separatism.
Illegal landings by boat across the English Channel had swelled to 8,500 this year — more than four times the number in 2019 — resulting in the government repurposing disused army barracks into open migrant camps.
It was revealed on Sunday that around eight alleged asylum seekers had left the facilities without leaving a forwarding address. Brexit leader Nigel Farage criticised the government’s open centres as “dangerous” and a threat to national security.
“The fact is that anyone can come to Britain illegally and then flee. That they’re able to do that from army camps, I’m sure most people will view it, is not just ridiculous but potentially quite dangerous.
“France are effectively closing their borders at the moment because of the fear of terrorism and I think this is an issue of national security,” Mr Farage said.