13 hours ago
Albanian with 50 convictions can stay in UK as crimes ‘not extreme enough'
An Albanian burglar with almost 50 convictions has been allowed to stay in the UK after a judge found his crimes were not 'extreme' enough.
Zenel Beshi's 'serious and prolific' offending saw him jailed for six years in Italy for robbery, theft and false imprisonment, an immigration tribunal was told.
He failed to disclose these convictions when he arrived in Britain, however, said the Home Office. It told the tribunal that he posed a 'genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat ' to the UK and should be deported.
However, Leonie Hirst, the upper tribunal Judge, rejected the Home Office's arguments. She found that Beshi's crimes were not of the 'very extreme' type of offending that would cause 'deep public revulsion', and allowed him to stay.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, accused the judge of being 'out of touch' as the Albanian was 'clearly a danger to the British public'.
'It's time these judges started to prioritise protecting law-abiding British citizens instead of foreign criminals,' he said.
'Foreign citizens who have committed criminal offences in the UK or elsewhere should all be removed back to their country of origin – no ifs, no buts.
'It's about time our human rights to be protected from dangerous criminals get respected, instead of the supposed rights of the criminal coming first. If I become home secretary, this will change.'
The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example uncovered by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have been able to remain in the UK or halt their removal.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is proposing to change the law to make it harder for judges to grant the right to remain based on human rights claims and require them to take greater account of the impact of such a decision on public safety.
Beshi arrived in the UK in August 2020, three years after he was sentenced in Turin, Italy, to six years in prison for robbery and false imprisonment, as well as 44 counts of burglary and theft.
In September of that year, he applied for a European Economic Area (EEA) residence card as the spouse of an EEA national.
His application was initially refused because he had not provided evidence that his partner had EU Treaty Rights but after he appealed, he was granted a residency card. While waiting for the outcome of his appeal, Beshi applied for leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme.
However, the Home Office said he failed to disclose his burglary convictions and rejected his application in July 2022. At the same time, it decided to deport him on the grounds he was a 'genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat' to the UK public.
Misapplied burden of proof
Beshi appealed the decision and was backed by a first-tier tribunal after a psychologist concluded he was at 'low risk' of reoffending and did not pose a 'serious threat' to the interests of society.
Ms Cooper appealed the decision, arguing that the court had misapplied the burden of proof, used the wrong threshold for protection from deportation, the incorrect approach to deportation and not given clear conclusions.
Now, the Upper Tribunal has found that the issue of whether Beshi had disclosed his convictions is of 'little relevance' to the decision.
Judge Hirst also concluded the lower chamber had used the correct standards for the deportation threshold and rehabilitation.
'Whilst [his] previous offending was clearly both serious and prolific, the evidence before the First-tier Tribunal did not on any view indicate that it was of the 'very extreme' type of offending causing 'deep public revulsion' which would justify expulsion,' she said.
Judge Hirst also praised the first-tier tribunal's 'detailed, clear and well-structured' considerations and found no error in law that would overturn the lower chamber's decision allowing the Albanian to stay. 'We consider that the [Home Secretary's] criticisms of the first-tier tribunal's reasoning are not well-founded.'
Nearly 270,000 home burglaries are reported to police each year with just one in 25 resulting in the thief being caught and charged.
One in eight people (13 per cent) move home because of the trauma of experiencing the crime while a similar proportion said they could not bear to be home alone after the break-in
A Home Office spokesman said: 'We have made it clear that we do not agree with this judgment and are considering options for appeal.
'Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain's streets, including removal from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.
'We remain resolute in our commitment to ensuring there are no barriers to deport foreign criminals, as it is in the public interest for these people to be removed swiftly.'
