Judge rails at failure to deport thief

A judge yesterday launched a blistering attack on Home Office incompetence, declaring it had lost the public's confidence over the deportation of criminals.

In a devastating intervention, Judge Timothy Nash said: "No wonder the public doesn't trust the Home Office. No wonder they despair."

He hit out after learning of the case of a Russian refugee twice served with deportation orders - but still in Britain.

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Mohammed Gaparkhoev, a habitual thief, had been jailed for breaching an anti-social behaviour order supposed to stop him from shoplifting in Folkestone, Kent.

He was first ordered for deportation as long ago as 2004.

He is being held while officials consider finally expelling him - but has not received a single visit from immigration department staff.

Judge Nash said the case was evidence of 'lax supervision' and a 'lack of leadership' in the department. His outburst is another blow for the Home Office, following the sacking of Charles Clarke for the release of more than 1,000 foreign convicts supposed to be considered for deportation.

Sitting at Canterbury Crown Court, Judge Nash said the Gaparkhoev case was "an illustration of the Home Office not doing its job. It doesn't know its left hand from its right".

He went on: "Unfortunately, like many government departments, it suffers because there are individuals in it who only ever look upwards to their own advancement and they are paid sometimes twice what judges are paid and they look upwards to please those above them and they forget the dreary dross of life that goes on beneath them because it is too inconvenient.

"I was brought up in an evangelical non-conformist family. One of the things I learnt was that if you persist in being so heavenly minded, you end up being no earthly use.

"And it's true. This is lax supervision amongst very basic staff levels, lack of leadership and, I suspect, lack of moral courage."

Thefts

Gaparkhoev, 30, arrived in Dover from Russia in 2001 hidden in the back of a lorry. He applied for political asylum claiming he would be killed if he returned. After being put up in a flat in Folkestone, he began stealing from shops in the area while claiming benefits of around £300 a month.

Store bosses worked with police to compile a log of his activities, securing an anti-social behaviour order banning him from the town centre for two years in June 2004.

Gaparkhoev, a heroin addict, had the order explained to him at Canterbury Crown Court through an interpreter. He was also given maps of the no-go areas.

But in September 2004 he was caught stealing from a chemist inside the banned area. He was jailed for 12 months.

A recommendation for deportation was made, but he was not removed. He was given 'exceptional leave' to remain in Britain as a refugee in February 2005 and freed from jail. He also a married a British woman. The anti-social behaviour order remained in place.

In November 2005, he was again arrested, having been seen by staff in another chemist in the town.

He is back in custody for breaching the order and another deportation order has been made. He is waiting to be sentenced for the latest breach by Judge Nash.

Yesterday Home Office sources said the Russian had not been deported because he had appealed against the order. This was now in the process of being considered.

Judge Nash questioned the point in making his own recommendation for removal.

"What the point of serving three notices of deportation and doing nothing about it? Why should I order his deportation anyway?

"The Home office hasn't acted on the previous deportation orders. Why should the court waste its time making orders the Home Office thinks it can disregard?"

He went on: "I am not a creature of politics. This is a court of law and it has to assume the rules on occasions laid down by the Home Office, never mind the Home Secretary. He can only do his job as well as the minions under him."

Laura Charleton, defending, said Gaparkhoev would not be released until the matter was resolved. But she added: "He has never yet been visited by an immigration official."

Adjourning for 56 days, the judge ordered a senior official from the Home Office immigration department to attend the sentencing hearing in July.

"I want to be given some sensible information and would expect the process in relation to deportation to have been started and well advanced by then if it is to be pursued," he said.

"It is quite meaningless for courts to make orders government servants think they can blissfully ignore.

"I am not referring to politicians, I am referring to civil servants who just don't do their job. It is down to a lack of proper leadership."

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said last night: "The judge is right to raise the issue of the Government ignoring recommendations to deport. Of the 1,023 foreign criminals released by this Government, 160 had recommendations to deport made which were simply ignored."