A judge has ruled that an Albanian criminal is allowed to remain in the UK despite being tried, after it was found his son could not return to Albania for reasons including his nugget consumption
An Albanian criminal has dodged being booted out of Britain as his son hates the chicken nuggets served in other countries.
Klevis Disha’s paltry excuse for wanting to remain in the UK has left Britain’s Border Minister “astonished” it worked – and she stressed the government is appealing a tribunal’s decision he should be kept here. Outrage has erupted after an immigration hearing said it would be “unduly harsh” for the 39-year-old to be sent back to Albania partly because his 10-year-old boy – known as ‘C’ in court documents – “will not eat the type of chicken nuggets that are available abroad”.
Disha entered the UK illegally in 2001, when he was 15, lying he was born in the former Yugoslavia. His asylum claim was rejected but he was granted citizenship in 2007.
He met his partner, an Albanian naturalised British citizen, a year earlier and the couple had two children.
But in September 2017 Disha was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after being found in possession of more than £250,000 in cash – known to be the proceeds of crime. In 2019, then-home secretary Priti Patel ordered he be deported and stripped of his UK citizenship as it had been “acquired through deception”.
After hearing evidence from Disha, his partner and their junk food-loving son, a judge at a lower immigration tribunal said the boy had “additional needs” best catered to in the UK. Disha’s appeal against deportation was upheld under the Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect the right to respect for family life.
Documents showed the court was told there was no formal diagnosis of special educational needs for his son. But the lad did have an educational plan to deal with his “emotional regulation, independence, reading and writing”.
Judge David Merrigan disagreed in an upper tribunal with the assessment that the boy’s additional needs could not be met in Albania.
He said the original decision was a “single example” of why the child could not go to Albania – which was that he would not eat “the type of chicken nuggets that are available abroad”. The judge added the boy could remain in the UK and be cared for by his mother.
Home Office minister Dame Angela said about the case, which is ongoing: “It’s not for me to second guess a judgement that we have appealed and we certainly hope that we can get deportation action going in that particular case.
“But that will be for the courts to decide.”
When pressed on whether she thought Disha’s human rights were being breached because of his son’s love of chicken nuggets, she admitted: “I’m fairly astonished.
“What we have to do is say we are serious about this, we have deported a lot of people regardless of whether they like chicken nuggets or not.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appealed the judgment in August last year, arguing there was not enough evidence to show Disha’s deportation would be “unduly harsh” on his son.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain’s streets, including removal from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Since the election, we’ve removed 2,580 foreign criminals, a 23% increase on the same period 12 months prior.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp fumed: “This case shows how bogus asylum seekers and foreign criminals are ruthlessly exploiting human rights laws and weak judges to stay in the UK.”
The government has overseen the arrest of thousands of migrants working illegally across the UK in nail bars, car washes and restaurants as part of its fight to get a grip on Britain’s border security.
Figures show almost 4,000 arrests have been made after 5,424 visits by immigration enforcement officers from July 5 – when Labour took power – to January 31.
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