A terrorist who murdered three people was allowed to stay in the country after a series of “woeful” Home Office errors.
Khairi Saadallah murdered James Furlong, 36, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, and David Wails, 49, in Forbury Gardens, Reading, on Saturday June 20, 2020.
Now, an inquest has heard how Saadallah had wrongly been granted five years’ humanitarian leave to remain by the Home Office.
The department made a series of "woeful" errors in handling the case, which included allowing him to stay in the country even though he had served five prison sentences for violent offences.
Khairi Saadallah murdered three people in Forbury Gardens, Reading
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At the inquest, director of the Foreign National Offender Returns Command Jane Sutton said: "There are a number of errors made throughout the entirety of [Saadallah’s] engagement with the Home Office and immigration department and, at times, the quality of our work and interaction with him fell below the quality and standards that would have been expected."
When asked by Nicholas Moss KC: "Did it fall below by quite some margin on more than one occasion?" Sutton responded: "Yes."
The inquest was told that the Home Office had no record of Saadallah’s arrival in Britain on a multiple-entry tourist visa with his father in March 2012 and again in September 2012, reports The Times.
The department also had no record of his failure to depart by the visa expiry date on September 28 before he claimed asylum on October 16.
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Floral tributes were left at the site
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Six years later, Saadallah was still in the country. This is despite exhausting all his appeals, after launching a new legal challenge to his deportation.
He argued that Libya had become unsafe in the meantime due to a new round of conflict in the country. He was eventually granted five years’ leave to remain on a humanitarian protection basis and withdrew his legal appeal.
Saadallah admitted being a member of Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, a group which has been linked to Isis, during the uprising against Colonel Gaddafi in 2011, the year before he arrived in Britain and claimed asylum.
He was jailed five times for a string of violent offences and repeatedly referred to a mental health crisis team each time he was released.
Reading West MP Alok Sharma lays a floral tribute at Forbury Gardens in Reading
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Saadallah was also paid compensation due to the fact that there had been a delay in issuing him with a biometric card to allow him to claim benefits.
The family of Ritchie-Bennett, an American pharmaceutical worker, paid tribute to him at the inquest.
His brother said: "He was lovable, he was funny and he was hilarious at times. He was the definition of the world ambassador. We have missed you every day of our lives since June 20, 2020 and we always will … it’s as if our family is just frozen in time."
The inquest continues.
