A yet-to-be-identified convicted Nigerian fraudster has been allowed to stay in the United Kingdom after claiming that he was bisexual less than 24 hours to his deportation.
According to Mail Online, the man was jailed for five and a half years in 2015 before the Home Office began the deportation process the following year.
The culprit had reportedly made various human rights claims, which were rejected by a judge, but further delaying the process by launching an appeal.
The criminal made two judicial review applications that were also eventually rejected but in January 2019, he claimed that he was bisexual and could not live openly in Nigeria – despite having never mentioned it during the lengthy court appeals.
The Home Office claimed that this was a lie but an immigration judge granted him asylum.
The fraudster, who arrived as a student in 2006, claimed that his sexuality had caused him to suffer adverse treatment at university as well as in prison.
He argued that he had not told authorities about his sexuality before because he had only felt able to disclose his sexual orientation following discussions with detainees and a welfare officer.
Reacting, Member of Parliament, Nigel Mills said: “It’s the most ridiculous case I have ever heard. Every convicted criminal will be trying this now.”
In October last year, UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel vowed to stop people ‘taking our country for a ride’ by overhauling the ‘broken’ asylum system and cracking down on migrant crossings.
The Home Secretary pledged the ‘biggest overhaul in decades’ as she warned that the current arrangements are not ‘firm or fair’.
In her keynote speech to Tory conference, Patel said that toughening enforcement and preventing abuse of the rules was the best way to protect the vulnerable.
