Covid made me commit crime, claims drug dealer spared deportation

Telegraph

09-04-2025

A convicted cannabis dealer has been spared deportation after claiming that he only committed the crime because he ran out of money during the Covid pandemic.
Greek migrant Sali Dragodi, 26, has been allowed to stay in the country after a 'generous' judge ruled that his removal would breach his human rights despite objections from the Home Office.
The Home Office sought to return him to his native Greece after he was jailed for more than a year for possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
But first-tier tribunal Judge Mary Mulready believed he was at a 'very low risk of reoffending'. His lawyer argued he was 'someone who had done something stupid once and was unlikely to commit an offence again'.
After she allowed his human rights claim, the Government appealed the decision, arguing that 'due weight' had not been given to the public interest in deporting foreign national offenders.
But this has now been rejected after another judge found no 'error of law' in the original decision.
The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example exposed by The Telegraph where failed asylum seekers or convicted foreign criminals have attempted to halt their deportations, often by claiming breaches of their human rights.
There are a record 41,987 outstanding immigration appeals, largely on human rights grounds, which threaten to hamper Labour's efforts to fast-track removal of illegal migrants.
Dragodi was granted limited leave to remain in accordance with the EU Settlement Scheme in August 2020, a tribunal was told.
He was later convicted of possessing cannabis with intent to supply, for which he was sentenced to one year, one month and 21 days imprisonment.
The tribunal heard: '[Dragodi]'s evidence before the [first tier tribunal] and accepted by it was that the circumstances of the offence were exceptional, coming in the context of financial difficulties arising out of the circumstances of the pandemic.
'[Dragodi] was at that time living in a single room paid for by the man he committed the offence with, who was more seriously involved.'
Judge Mulready ruled in his favour in June 2023, meaning he was allowed to stay in Britain. However, the Home Office questioned why the drug dealer had been assessed as at a 'very low' risk of reoffending.
The Home Office said there had been no 'proper recognition' by the judge of the 'nature of the offence, or expression of public revulsion or deterrence'. Dragodi had not 'provided any evidence of rehabilitation' with no 'guarantee' he might not reoffend. There was no reason he could not return to Greece 'given his youth, his health and his skills'.
However, Dragodi's representative told the tribunal: 'This was not a career criminal but someone who had done something stupid once and was unlikely to commit an offence again.'
Deputy tribunal Judge Greg Ó Ceallaigh – who sat with upper tribunal Judge Daniel Sheridan – found that Judge Mulready was entitled to come to the conclusion that she did. 'In our view the grounds of appeal do not identify any error of law,' he said. 'The tribunal quite clearly took account of all relevant matters.'
The judge added: 'While the [first-tier tribunal]'s assessment may have been at the more generous end of the spectrum, it is one that she was entitled to reach.'