Alcoholic can’t be kicked out

A LIBYAN convicted of 78 offences cannot be deported from Britain because he is an alcoholic.

Seven years after the man was first told he would be booted out of the country, a judge has finally ruled that it would breach his human rights.

In what is thought to be an unprecedented case, he successfully argued he would be tortured and imprisoned by the authorities in his homeland because drinking alcohol is illegal.

Judges rejected Home Secretary Theresa May’s attempt to deport the 53-year-old serial criminal because of the risk of ‘unacceptably savage’ abuse he faced in Libya.

It means he will be able to continue his drink-fuelled offending spree in Britain.

His case is estimated to have cost British taxpayers a six-figure sum, including the cost of police time, legal fees racked up by challenging his claims in the courts and the costs of keeping him in prison. Last night Peter Bone, Tory candidate for Wellingborough, said the case illustrated why Britain should scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.

‘Few people will think this man should remain in the country. He has completely abused our hospitality,’ he said.

Despite insisting the Libyan – who was granted anonymity by the courts and can only be identified by the initials ‘HU’ – had ‘behaved disgracefully’ to rack up 78 crimes on 5 occasions, the Upper Immigration Tribunal said deporting him would violate the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into British law by the Human Rights Act.

Removing him would breach Article 3, the right to avoid inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, and Article 8, the right to a private or family life.

In a written ruling, Judge Jonathan Perkins said: ‘Under the rule of militia [in Libya] the usual routine for a person found drinking was arrest, possible whipping and detention for a few days.’

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