Albanian killer still on streets – 9 months after being exposed
AN ALBANIAN murderer who slipped back into the UK after being deported is still here – nine months after he was exposed.
Selami Cokaj, who was once on Interpol’s most wanted list, is living openly in Leicester, where he runs a car wash and earns more than £40,000 a year.
Cokaj, 43, fled to Britain after escaping from prison in Albania where he had been jailed for stabbing a man to death.
He was sent back to his homeland in 2009 – but sneaked into the UK again some time before August 2015 and set up several businesses.
Cokaj was exposed in February, when he was pictured at the car wash. At the time, it emerged that the Home Office was already aware of his presence in Britain.
But nine months on, he is still here and has been seen at the car wash again.
Tory MP Philip Davies said the case ‘ beggars belief’. He added: ‘I have no idea what on earth the Home Office is doing if it’s not protecting the public from killers. It’s extraordinary that not only is he still at large but he is continuing about his day-to- day life and making money. He should be deported straight away.’
Cokaj was handed a 20-year sentence in Albania in 1994 for the murder and an armed robbery. He escaped after three years, arriving in the UK as a fugitive in 1999.
He posed as a refugee from the Kosovo conflict using the alias Valton Gashi and set up home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where he ran a chain of car washes.
At the time, he was on Interpol’s most wanted list, described as ‘a highly dangerous criminal’. In 2006, Cokaj was finally tracked down and arrested by British officers, but he claimed asylum.
The father-of-four was sent back to Albania in 2009 but he was freed from prison in 2012.
Cokaj then managed to reenter the UK. He set up six businesses in Leicestershire, including a coffee shop, three car valeting services and a tyre-fitting company, some using his real name.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd can kick out Cokaj as an immigration offender and as a serious foreign criminal because his presence in the UK is not ‘in the public good’.
But he is living in a detached home in a leafy street, where a Volvo XC90 D5 worth £52,000 and VW Beetle could be seen on the drive last week. It is understood he pays £1,500 a month to rent the property.
When confronted, Cokaj told The Sun: ‘I have nothing to say. Go away.’
The Home Office said: ‘ We are seeking his deportation. We are unable to comment on any specific difficulties.’