BBC editor paid to assist 15 Somalian criminals keep within the UK quits

A BBC editor was employed as an professional witness to assist at the least 15 Somalian criminals struggle deportation – together with a vile offender who sexually attacked a deaf teenage lady.

Last 12 months, The Mail on Sunday uncovered how Mary Harper, Africa Editor for the World Service, was paid to offer professional witness proof for Somali gang rapist Yaqub Ahmed throughout his five-year authorized battle to remain within the UK.

Now an investigation by this newspaper can reveal Ms Harper has given professional witness proof in a string of different controversial deportation appeals by Somali offenders – together with for an additional three intercourse attackers, three drug sellers and a profession legal who spent a decade in British jails.

Following a sequence of questions from the MoS, the BBC final evening introduced that Ms Harper was leaving the Corporation, however refused to say whether or not she had been sacked or had stop. 

In one of the crucial surprising instances, Ms Harper warned {that a} Somali man who dedicated a horrific sexual assault on a profoundly deaf 17-year-old lady could be at ‘severely heightened danger’ if he was despatched again to Somalia as a result of he had dedicated a intercourse crime.

A choose disagreed and threw out his attraction in opposition to deportation. Astonishingly, this newspaper has found that, 16 months later, the 29-year-old attacker, who the MoS is banned from naming by a courtroom order, has nonetheless not been kicked out of Britain and resides with relations in a council flat.

The surprising revelations come simply days after it emerged that an Afghan man at present on the run after a horrific chemical assault was granted asylum regardless of having a conviction for sexual assault.

Ms Harper’s in depth work as an professional witness final evening plunged the BBC into an impartiality row.

Tory deputy chairman Rachel Maclean MP stated she was ‘flabbergasted’ on the variety of immigration instances Ms Harper had been concerned in and demanded the Corporation evaluate its tips.

‘What are the households of these affected by these criminals pondering when a BBC worker is giving proof to say they need to keep within the nation?,’ she stated. ‘To me there’s something very flawed with that.’

Our unique investigation additionally reveals how:

Ms Harper urged {that a} violent legal convicted of assault and theft could be in danger from terrorists in Somalia as his tattooed arms could be seen as a ‘signal of homosexuality’;

She claimed one other prolific legal would face ‘nice difficulties’ in Somalia on account of an absence of household and monetary help – regardless of the courtroom listening to the offender’s mom had loved three holidays to Dubai;

Ms Harper warned a 3rd legal’s lengthy historical past of offending within the UK – 39 convictions for 80 crimes over 17 years – would end in him being shunned by his clan if he returned to Somalia;

A Somali who flooded a Hampshire city with medication was allowed to remain within the UK after Ms Harper gave proof. Ahmed Ali Jama, 29, claimed he could be in peril in Somalia as a result of his father and sister are in style singers;

Judges twice questioned Ms Harper’s objectivity and in a 3rd case branded a few of her proof ‘speculative and never supported by any broad vary of views’;

In one other tribunal, the Home Office stated info she had mistakenly attributed to a terrorist supply was ‘in reality obtained from an workplace cleaner’.

Educated at £42,000-a-year Bedales School in Hampshire, Ms Harper grew to become a BBC Africa Editor in 2009. The mom of two first visited Somalia in 1994 on the peak of its civil struggle and has written books in regards to the nation and the Al-Shabaab terror group.

On her web site, she describes herself as ‘an professional witness in Somali-related authorized instances’ in addition to referring to her BBC job.

Court papers reveal she has been offering professional witness proof in immigration instances for at the least a decade, and has hyperlinks with Wilson Solicitors, the London regulation agency that represented Yaqub Ahmed throughout his relentless cycle of doubtful human rights appeals.

Ahmed, 34, who was jailed in 2008 for raping a 16-year-old lady, was deported final August – 5 years after his elimination was thwarted following a mutiny of virtue-signalling passengers on the identical flight.

The MoS has recognized 12 immigration instances wherein Wilson Solicitors requested Ms Harper to both write a report or give proof in courtroom.

Despite repeated requests, Ms Harper and the BBC have refused to reveal how a lot she has been paid to offer proof. Legal sources say professional witnesses will be paid as much as £2,500 for producing a report in legal-aid-funded instances.

Seven of the 15 Somali criminals whose instances concerned proof from Ms Harper have been profitable of their appeals. The Home Office final evening refused to say how lots of the others have been deported.

In 2019, Ms Harper offered proof throughout a bid to dam the deportation of a Somali who had been jailed for seven years for an appalling intercourse assault.

Known as AMW after a courtroom order was imposed to guard his anonymity, the person, now 29, repeatedly sexually assaulted his deaf 17-year-old girlfriend at a celebration in 2013, inflicting her to scream in ache, after she objected to him having intercourse with one other lady.

Court papers state he attacked the lady, who had studying difficulties and psychological well being issues, ‘to humiliate and punish her’. In 2018, the Home Office stripped him of his refugee standing and issued a deportation order, prompting a human rights problem.

The subsequent 12 months, after contemplating a report from Ms Harper, an immigration choose allowed AMW’s attraction, however the choice was challenged by the Home Office and referred to the Upper Immigration Tribunal. Ms Harper’s proof once more fashioned an important a part of the case.

She warned that, if deported to Mogadishu, he could be in danger due to his ‘lack of information’ of Somalia’s capital. She wrote: ‘I consider the info that [AMW] has by no means been to Somalia, doesn’t converse the language effectively, has no household or different contacts within the nation and has dedicated a sexual offence would… make it inconceivable for him to outlive.’

But in September 2022, a choose dismissed AMW’s attraction, saying his evaluation ‘differs markedly from Mrs Harper’s’.

Despite the ruling, AMW’s brother final week informed an MoS reporter that the offender stays within the UK, residing with relations in a flat. And a cousin added: ‘He has already served his time. He is a free individual proper now.’

In one other astonishing case, Ms Harper offered professional stories for Somali drug supplier Ahmed Ali Jama, who was jailed for 4 years and eight months in May 2018 after he admitted his function in a county traces community that had distributed greater than a kilogram of Class A medicine to Aldershot in Hampshire.

He had beforehand been jailed for 26 weeks for possession of a knife in 2013, and 13 months in July 2015 after he was concerned in a struggle outdoors a kebab store.

The 29-year-old claimed throughout an immigration tribunal that he could be in peril from Islamists if despatched again to Mogadishu as a result of his father and sister are ‘in style Somali singers’.

In June 2023, following an attraction, Jama was allowed to remain within the UK after Ms Harper offered two professional stories which centered on the job alternatives for folks returning to Somalia and the residing circumstances within the refugee camps the place she stated some have been compelled to reside.

In 2021, three judges stated Ms Harper ‘speaks with a level of authority’ and that ‘normally’ they discovered her proof useful.

But her proof has additionally been criticised. In a 2014 case involving three Somalis, Ms Harper warned deportees might be attacked by ‘criminals, militias, authorities troops, African Union troopers and Al-Shabaab.’ Three judges later dominated this ‘seems to be an overstatement’.

The following 12 months one other choose stated he may connect ‘little weight’ to a report ready by Ms Harper, including that it ‘lacks the objectivity demanded’, whereas in the course of the Yaqub Ahmed authorized case three judges stated that they had ‘considerations’ in regards to the objectivity of a few of her proof.

Former Tory chief Sir Iain Duncan Smith stated, ‘For a choose to query her proof on the idea of lack of impartiality is astonishing’ and raised questions for the BBC.’

The MoS understands Ms Harper will go away the BBC this month. A spokesman declined to say whether or not her departure was linked to the MoS’s revelations.

BBC workers are anticipated to hunt permission from bosses earlier than enterprise exterior work. It is unclear whether or not Ms Harper ever sought or obtained such approval to behave as an professional witness. The BBC stated: ‘While there may be nothing within the BBC’s guidelines to forestall workers performing as professional witnesses, they’re required to be goal and neutral of their proof.’

Ms Harper didn’t reply to requests to remark.

Additional reporting: Cameron Charters