UK Edition
A convicted murderer is among up to 69 Albanians claiming asylum or seeking to remain in the UK after a legal bungle let them off criminal immigration charges.
Killer Alfred Mahmutaj, 42, was among the 69 migrants who were arrested last month after their fishing boat was intercepted off the coast of East Anglia.
The operation on November 17 involved 250 National Crime Agency (NCA), police and Border Force officers who intercepted the 101-foot trawler which had departed from Belgium.
However, plans to prosecute them for illegal entry to the UK were abandoned because when arrested, they had not yet set foot on British soil – a key criteria under the law.
Mahmutaj was jailed for 15 years for shooting dead Razije Allushi in front of her eight year old daughter at their home in the village of Cerme, near the southern city of Lushnje.
Teuta, her daughter, gave testimony identifying him as her mother's killer. She had been shot through the window of her house after barricading herself and her family inside. The murder followed an argument the week before when he hit her over the head with a pitchfork.
It is believed that Mahmuataj and his 68 compatriots paid up to £20,000 apiece to people smugglers to enter the UK.
Their interception in the North Seat was hailed as one of the largest cases of clandestine illegal immigration ever uncovered. After the arrests, Home Secretary Priti Patel described the operation as a 'big win' against a 'serious illegal enterprise'.
The migrants were originally charged with illegal entry to the UK under Section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971, which carries up to six months' imprisonment.
However, the Act states that “a person arriving in the United Kingdom by ship or aircraft shall... be deemed not to enter the United Kingdom unless and until he disembarks".
The Home Office did not seek specific legal advice about the evidence required for a prosecution before the vessel was intercepted.
Mahmuataj is currently being held in detention while his immigration case is considered by the Government. He could claim refugee or asylum status under human rights laws.
As he was held before the end of the transition period, the more lenient EU laws on deportation require the UK show that he presents a genuine, present and serious threat.
A Home Office source said: “The immigration cases of those involved will now be dealt with as quickly as possible and removal action will be pursued against anyone found to have no right to remain in the UK.
“All asylum seekers undergo security checks against immigration and police databases to identify those who may have been involved in criminality both in the UK or abroad.”
A Home Office spokesman added: “We will deny the benefits of refugee status to those who commit serious crimes and are a danger to the community. Those with no right to remain in the UK will be removed as soon as possible.”
The disclosure follows a series of controversies over attempted deportations including that of 50 foreign national offenders to Jamaica including killers, rapists and drug dealers.
In the end, just 13 of the convicted criminals were deported after appeals against the chartered flight on the grounds that it breached their human rights or that they had been victims of modern slavery.
Flights to remove Channel migrants after the Home Office had rejected their asylum claims have also been halted by legal challenges.
Ms Patel has vowed to reform the “broken” asylum system with a bill expected to be published next month that will restrict “vexatious” claims and attempt to tighten the rules on human rights grounds.