A deported migrant who snuck back into the UK has successfully lodged a claim with the ECHR to stay after he got married and had a child.
Ardit Binaj, 32, from Albania, entered Britain illegally via a lorry in 2014, and the following year, he was arrested for burglary.
He was jailed in 2016 for the break-in, spending 30 months behind bars before he was released six months early.
Binaj was then deported back to his home country as part of a prisoners transfer agreement.
A deported migrant has snuck back in the UK via ECHR
PA
However, just five months later, he re-entered the UK in breach of his deportation order to be with his Lithuanian girlfriend - she has leave to remain under the Government’s EU settlement scheme.
He successfully lodged a claim with the ECHR under Article 8 - the right to a family life - after the pair got married and then had a son.
The 32-year-old waited until after his child was born before applying “as he believed that would increase his chances of remaining in the UK”, according to the judge.
Whilst it was at first rejected, after he invoked Article 8, with his lawyers arguing that his wife was suffering from severe depression and needed him.
MORE LIKE THIS:
Binaj snuck into the UK via a lorry in 2014 (not pictured)
PA
Binaj was granted permission in spite of him working illegally in the UK.
Robert Jenrick, a former immigration minister, told The Telegraph that the 32-year-old’s case was an example of the failings of the ECHR: “The convention has been stretched so far beyond recognition that it's become a charter for criminals.
“It has repeatedly offered loopholes to dangerous foreign criminals who threaten the British public so they can avoid deportation.
“Reform of Article 8 is a fantasy. The only way we can put an end to farcical cases like this is if we leave the convention altogether, and guarantee our own rights.”
ECHR courtGetty “Reform of Article 8 is a fantasy. The only way we can put an end to farcical cases like this is if we leave the convention altogether, and guarantee our own rights.”
James Cleverly, who was Home Secretary at the time of the successful appeal, challenged the ruling stating that it was not “unduly harsh” to return Binaj to Albania.
However, the judge’s ruling was upheld and the 32-year-old was allowed to stay.
Article 8 has been criticised for years for its ability to halt deportations, with one such infamous incident includes Learco Chindamo, the man who murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence.
