Killer can stay in UK – as he may harm people in Albania

Schizophrenic uses human rights to claim he won’t get his medication

A pArAnoid s chizo - phrenic killer has escaped deportation to Albania on human rights grounds after a j udge ruled he might ‘ harm others’ in his homeland.

Astrit Mija killed his flatmate in 2003 and has spent the past 17 years in prison.

He was jailed for life after being found guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility for the attack on Arben Basha at their home in ipswich – four years after he arrived in Britain and falsely claimed to be a Kosovan refugee.

He would normally be deported after completing his sentence, but an immigration judge ruled that despite free psychiatric care in Albanian hospitals and the killer having a ‘strong motivation’ to take his medication and not appearing ‘obviously mentally unwell’, it would breach his human rights to send him home.

Judge Anna-rose Landes said

Mija’s lack of family support in Albania meant he might struggle to access the drugs he needed, which would possibly lead him to kill himself or ‘harm others’.

in a blow for priti patel, a Home office appeal against the ruling has been rejected. it was not immediately clear if Mija, who was believed to be in jail during the appeals, could be freed in the UK.

The Home office ruled in 2013 that he should be deported after serving his sentence, but Mija has repeatedly used Article 3 of the

European Convention Human rights to fight to stay.

His initial claims that he would not be able to receive medication if he was sent back to Kosovo were rejected and a judge ruled that he was actually Albanian, so he would be returning there. He then claimed he was in danger from his victim’s family, but this was also turned down.

Mija, who did not challenge either ruling, was transferred from prison in preparation for removal in April last year, but his solicitors managed to obtain an injunction. instead, he was returned to jail and launched another legal bid to stay. now Judge Landes has ruled that without family support and the likelihood that Mija would be ‘homeless and destitute’ in Albania, he would have ‘real difficulty’ accessing treatment.

She ruled: ‘There is a real risk that in such circumstances the appellant would not be able to access medication or facilities himself and would then relapse and act on the voices that ordered him to do himself harm/kill himself or indeed harm others.’

Her ruling that deporting Mija breached his human rights was upheld after an appeal by the Home office.

But Albanian authorities and psychiatrists said last night that Mija would have received free treatment in the country, even if he was homeless and not being treated in hospital.

Health ministry spokesman Etiola Kola said: ‘The medication for paranoid schizophrenia is 100 per cent free and paid by the government even if the person is unemployed and does not pay for health security services.

‘We consider paranoid schizophrenia as a critical illness and medication has been free for many years.’

Earlier this month Albanian paranoid schizophrenic Eltiona Skana admitted killing seven- year- old Emily Jones in a park in Bolton.

Skana came into the UK illegally in the back of the lorry before unsuccessfully applying for asylum after lying about being trafficked.

She admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after cutting Emily’s throat as the youngster rode past on a scooter while in the park with her parents on Mother’s day.

‘He may act on the voices’