Six missed chances to deport migrant who murdered carer
AN ILLEGAL immigrant murdered a carer after authorities missed six chances to kick him out of Britain before he killed.
Hani Khalaf, 22, bludgeoned 62-yearold Jairo Medina to death for his mobile phone and a few pounds.
He was free to live in the UK despite having falsely claimed to be a Syrian refugee when he arrived in Kent hidden in a lorry.
There were at least six times when the killer was arrested for theft and fraud, and released rather than deported as he repeatedly lied about his identity.
Guidelines say that asylum seekers should be detained only if deporting them is a realistic prospect.
But without knowing who Khalaf really was, authorities could not guarantee he would be kicked out of the country and so let him back on the streets.
Yesterday an Old Bailey judge said Mr Medina had paid for these failings ‘with his life’ and called for an urgent Home Office review.
Questions remain over Khalaf’s true name, age and nationality, as well as where he has been living since arriving in Britain, though he is believed to be Egyptian.
Judge Wendy Joseph said Khalaf, who was found guilty of murder, had ‘ no respect’ for our laws and expressed incredulity that he had been ‘sent out into the community time and time again’.
He was found in the back of a lorry in August 2014 after entering the UK illegally, and told immigration officers he was an 18-year- old Syrian. Over the next two years he lived hand to mouth, stealing from supermarkets and sleeping rough in parks.
The day before the murder last August he was arrested for shoplifting and admitted being in the country illegally, before giving his name as Ali Nagieb Abu Mahir.
He killed Colombian Mr Medina in Hyde Park on August 11 last year, leaving his body under a tree near Speakers’ Corner. His victim had a broken nose, eye sockets, voice box and ribs as well as a severe brain injury.
Jurors were told the killer and Mr Medina, of Chelsea, West London, appeared to know each other, and the victim had gone to Hyde Park hoping to have sex with a younger man. Days later a police officer recognised Khalaf from CCTV after he was arrested for shoplifting. His DNA was on Mr Medina’s bag, and his victim’s blood was on Khalaf’s watch, belt and shoes. Sentencing him to a minimum of 26 years in prison, the judge said: ‘If anyone thinks it right to review it they should have an opportunity to see what the consequences were in this case. It is clear that Hani Khalaf, having absconded, came to the attention of the authorities on at least six occasions. On each he was re-released because they could not make arrangements to secure his deportation within a reasonable period of time. That is the law. In effect he was an illegal immigrant with no way of maintaining himself. He was sent out into the community time and time again.’
Judge Joseph said that Khalaf had been a danger to himself and others, adding: ‘The extent of that danger is one Mr Medina paid for with his life.’
Foreign criminals and failed asy-
lum seekers cannot be detained ahead of deportation beyond a ‘reasonable period’, according to Home Office guidance.
In some cases illegal immigrants refuse to reveal their nationality so the authorities have to waste time trying to find out where they are from – and in the meantime they are allowed to roam the streets.
Other attempts to boot out offenders have become farcical as they repeatedly lie about their name, age and place of birth to avoid being put on a plane home. Minister have previously admitted they were powerless to boot out many asylum seekers who did not have permission to be here as they had ‘no place to go’.
Some do not have travel documents so cannot be removed immediately, while other attempts fail when offenders refuse to board planes.
Many put in multiple appeals or asylum claims over several years – often using controversial human-rights laws – in bids to ‘frustrate’ the Home Office’s ability to remove them.
It means that thousands of criminals are placed back in the community with a request to keep in touch with immigration officials – but many simply slip off the radar.
David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: ‘ The judge is quite right to criticise the authorities but some of the responsibility must lie with other judges who have shown a reluctance to deport people who clearly should not be in the UK.
‘Too often they are willing to listen to the pleadings about human rights of well-paid lawyers rather than use common sense, which is what the public want, and get rid of criminals and illegal immigrants.’
Tory MP Philip Hollobone added: ‘Once again the public will be outraged at the failure of our criminal justice system to deport a dangerous offender and the failure of border controls to prevent him coming into the country in the first place. If someone is caught and is in the country illegally or has committed a crime they should be placed in detention and held there until they are sent home.’
In 2014, the Home Office was forced to admit it had lost track of 758 dangerous foreign criminals awaiting deportation. Since 2010, more than 35,000 overseas offenders have been booted out, including 5,810 in 2015-16, the highest number ever.
‘Failure of criminal justice system’