A bid to deport an Albanian criminal has been overturned on human rights grounds as his son has a learning disability.
Blendi Axhami came to the UK clandestinely a decade ago. His son was born here in 2017.
Years later it emerged that Axhami had been given eight years’ imprisonment in his home country for an undisclosed offence and the Home Office attempted to kick him out of the UK.
But he has won a legal challenge as his son – who lives with his mother and is cared for by Axhami only once a week – is being treated ‘as if he is autistic’ while awaiting final diagnosis, the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber heard.
Court papers show Axhami first applied for permission to stay in Britain after his son’s birth – but did not declare his criminal conviction.
His background emerged after he was arrested twice in 2021 – once for possession of Class A drugs. His application for further ‘leave to remain’ was refused by the Home Office in 2022, but Axhami launched an appeal.
Lower Tribunal judge Angharad Lloyd-Lawrie ruled that his son ‘would face considerable distress’ should Axhami leave the UK.
Blendi Axhami has won a legal challenge as his son – who lives with his mother and is cared for by Axhami only once a week – is being treated ‘as if he is autistic’ while awaiting final diagnosis, the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber heard
The Home Office appealed against the ruling to the Upper Immigration Tribunal, but judge Elizabeth Ruddick dismissed it in January
Lower Tribunal judge Angharad Lloyd-Lawrie ruled that his son ‘would face considerable distress’ should Axhami leave the UK
The Home Office appealed against the ruling to the Upper Immigration Tribunal, but judge Elizabeth Ruddick dismissed it in January.
The case is the latest in a long line of troubling rulings from the immigration courts over the last 15 years, most of which involve the ECHR.
Earlier this month the Daily Mail revealed how a Jamaican criminal jailed for 20 years for a horrific manslaughter dodged deportation using human rights laws,
Other cases include another Albanian criminal who avoided removal after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile who successfully argued deportation would be ‘unduly harsh’ on his own children.
A Home Office spokesman said it ‘fought this case right the way through the tribunal system… Foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain’s streets’.
