European court of human rights says removal would breach right to family life in ruling that could curtail Home Office powers
The Home Office's ability to deport individuals who have committed crimes may be curtailed by a European court judgment banning the removal of a Nigerian man convicted of rape.
The Strasbourg court ruled that the 24-year-old man, known as AA, would have his right to family life "violated" if he was sent back to Nigeria. He lives with his mother, a nurse, in England.
In its finding, the court declared: "The applicant's deportation from the United Kingdom would be disproportionate to the legitimate aim of the 'prevention of disorder and crime' and would therefore not be necessary in a democratic society."
How much of a precedent the case will set was not immediately clear. The man was convicted of rape at the age of 15 but parole reports showed he had responded "positively" to rehabilitation and was subsequently deemed to pose a low risk of reoffending.
Welcoming the decision, the Aire Centre, the legal centre which took the case to the European court of human rights, described it as a "resounding victory". The young man has obtained both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the UK since leaving school, it said.
A spokeswoman added: "There has been the most spectacular rehabilitation of a juvenile offender. The blanket approach [to deportation] taken by the UK was totally inappropriate."
The Home Office did not comment immediately on the judgment. Last year about 5,000 "foreign national criminals" were deported from the UK at the end of their sentences.
In its judgment, the court explained: "The fact that the applicant was a minor when he committed the offence does not preclude his deportation given the seriousness of the offence in question.
"[But that] consideration must be carefully weighed against the applicant's exemplary conduct and, as the evidence before the court demonstrates, commendable efforts to rehabilitate himself and to reintegrate into society over a period of seven years.
"In such circumstances, the [UK] government are required to provide further support for their contention that the applicant can reasonably be expected to cause disorder or to engage in criminal activities such as to render his deportation necessary in a democratic society.
"However, the government have neither cited other relevant concerns nor submitted any documents capable of supporting such a contention."
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