Anger as paedophile is allowed to stay in the UK
A PAEDOPHILE immigrant jailed for preying on children has escaped being kicked out of the country – because deportation would breach his human right to a family life.
Sick Zulfar Hussain plied vulnerable girls with drugs before abducting one and engaging in sex with her.
But the Pakistani national will not be kicked out of the UK after being released early from his five-year sentence because he has a British wife with whom he has two children.
The decision by an immigration panel yesterday has provoked an outcry.
The Home Office is to appeal but critics last night branded the move “appalling” – and said it was another example of a criminal using Human Rights legislation to shield themselves from punishment.
Campaigner Paul Houston, 39, whose 12-year-old daughter Amy was killed by an illegal immigrant in a hit-and-run road smash in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 2003, said: “It is difficult to understand a system that lets people like this remain in the country.
“They are foreign nationals and have no right to be here if they commit such dreadful crimes.
“It is disgusting. Anyone would say it cannot be right. We are being betrayed by the system in this country. The human rights of others should be considered first.”
Blackburn councillor Michael Law-Riding said: “This man should be deported. We need to look closely at how we can ensure the right to a family life does not stop us protecting the community from foreign nationals who need to be deported due to criminality.”
Justice Secretary and Hussain’s former MP Jack Straw backed the bid to get the immigration panel’s ruling reversed.
Mr Straw said: “I’m very glad that the Home Office is appealing. If they had not, I would have been straight on to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson and he would have insisted on an appeal.
“We already passed legislation that if foreign nationals commit offences of this seriousness they will be deported and we want to see the courts enforcing that.”
One resident, living in the Blackburn street where 48-year-old Hussain used to reside, said: “His family moved out a long time ago. Even if they were still living here, he wouldn’t be welcome back.
“No one wants a paedophile living on their street. Lots of families live in this neighbourhood and parents need to know that their children will be safe.”
It is understood Hussain arrived in the UK in September 1994 under a temporary visa but was granted permanent leave to remain due to his marriage to a British national.
But he has never been granted a UK passport and remains a Pakistani national, which is why the Home Office is fighting for him to be deported for breaking the law.
Hussain was arrested in 2007 after picking up two girls aged about 15 who were in care. The naive girls became involved in sexual relationships with Hussain and his 34-year-old accomplice Qaiser Naveed.
The girls were given Ecstasy tablets and alcohol by the two men.
At Preston Crown Court, in August 2007, Hussain, of Blackburn, and Naveed, of Burnley, admitted abducting a child, sexual activity with the same child and supplying the youngsters with Ecstasy.
They were ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life by trial judge Andrew Gilbart QC, who added: “This is a truly shocking offence.”
As they are due for early release authorities had been set to deport both to their native Pakistan.
Naveed did not oppose it but Hussain claimed deportation breached his “right to family life” under article eight of the Human Rights Act.
An immigration judge has backed Hussain, meaning when he is released from jail in a few weeks he can go home to his family.
