Home Office blunder saves migrant killer from deportation

A Belgian killer who lived in the UK since the age of eight has avoided deportation after serving a 12-year jail term for a gangland killing because blundering Home Office officials made a series of mistakes in dealing with his case. 

William George, 27, was convicted of manslaughter for his part in what the Court of Appeal described as the ‘horrifying gang murder’ of Abdul Hafidah in 2016. 

On November 8, 2018, then Home Secretary Sajid Javid ordered that George, who moved to the UK with his family in 2004, should be returned to Belgium after completing his prison sentence on ‘imperative grounds of public security’. 

However, George successfully overturned this decision and the Court of Appeal has rejected attempts by the Home Office to continue with the deportation.

The Court of Appeal blasted the Home Office for a succession procedural failures in dealing with the case, describing their actions as ‘unimpressive’. 

The court warned: ‘It is as important for the Secretary of State to observe procedural rules as it is for claimants.’ 

The three judges were especially critical of attempts by the Home Office to rely on a legal argument that they had earlier abandoned in a lower court. 

The Court of Appeal noted: ‘Nothing in our decision means that we take anything but the most serious view of Mr George’s conduct. But he has been punished for that conduct by the sentence of twelve years’ imprisonment which he received.’ 

They said their decision was whether in addition to the sentence which he has served was whether he should be deported to Belgium – where he has not lived since he was eight.

The Court added: ‘ The rule under the Regulations is that that depends not, as such, on the seriousness of the offence but on whether he poses a sufficiently serious risk to public security in the future.’

George’s trial heard that he was  a spotter for the Manchester-based AO gang who were involved in a bitter feud with a Libyan/Somali gang known as the ‘Rusholme Crips’. 

On May 12, 2016 Abdul Hafidah, who was a member of the Rusholme Crips was spotted walking through the Moss Side area of Manchester when he was chased by members of the AO gang. 

Hafidah, it was argued, was in the area ‘with hostile intent’ and armed with a knife.  

The court heard George was in the area when 18-year-old Hafidah was chased. 

Members of the AO gang were armed with a variety of weapons, including hammers and knives. 

Hafidah had earlier been involved in the assault of a local man in Moss Side who suffered a broken arm. At the time of his death, he was armed with a knife. 

George, the court heard was on a bicycle and confronted Hafidah after he tried to flee from members of the AO gang. 

The original trial judge said George was ‘performing a valuable service’ for the gang by acting as a scout and was played a ‘vital part’ in the crime by delaying Hafidah’s escape and allowing fellow gang members to catch up to him.  

George, who was unarmed, used his bicycle to protect himself from hadknife until reinforcements arrived who began laying into the 18-year-old Rusholme Crip.

In a frenzied attack, Hafidah was beaten, hit with a hammer, deliberately struck by a car and ‘many knife wounds’. The fatal wound was to his neck. 

Other members of the gang were convicted of murder, but George pleaded guilty to manslaughter. 

Members of the gang were jailed for a total of 168 years for the attack. 

The Home Office are currently considering the impact of the judgement. 

A spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.’