A terrorist who snuck back to the UK in a small boat after serving a prison sentence in Italy is back in the clink, jailed for over two years for illegal entry
A convicted terrorist who took a small boat to sneak back into Britain when he was turned down for a visa has been jailed two years in prison.
Rebwar Hamad, 48, from Iraq first came to the UK in 2001 and was granted indefinite leave to remain. But he had to leave in 2020 to serve a prison sentence in Italy, where he was convicted in his absence of terrorism.
After completing his sentence he was told to leave Italy in a week. When he failed to get a UK visa, he opted to take a small boat instead. But his trip has now earned him a sentence of over two years, after the Crown Prosecution Service called for “the toughest sentence possible”.
Hamad arrived with other migrants on September 19 and later pleaded guilty to entering the country without valid entry clearance, prosecutors say.
He paid 1,200 euro (around £1,050) for a place on the boat, which was intercepted off Dover.
But he was jailed at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday for two years and three months. Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national gets a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.
Peter Cockrill from the CPS said: “Rebwar Hamad showed a blatant disregard for immigration rules by coming to the UK illegally for a second time and after serving a prison sentence for terrorism offences in Italy.
“The CPS argued in court that for these reasons he should receive the toughest sentence possible.”
His conviction comes after a migrant who re-entered the UK by small boat after being deported to France under the Government’s “one in, one out” agreement was expelled once more.
The Home Office confirmed that the Iranian man, who got into the UK for a second time on October 18, a month after his initial return to France, had been deported again.
He was removed as part of a pilot scheme with France designed to discourage migrants from journeying to the UK in small boats across the English Channel.
His second successful crossing sparked criticism that the Government is in “total chaos”. Ministers claim, though, that his detection upon arrival “shows the system is working”.
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