AN immigration judge who refused to deport a rapist and a crack cocaine dealer was once a volunteer for a pro-migrant lawyer society.
Judge Melissa Canavan acted for Bail for Immigration Detainees and, separately, gave asylum seekers free legal advice while working for the Refugee Legal Centre.
Robert Jenrick said it was a ‘mind-blowing’ move to let the rapist remain[/caption]
Ms Canavan, who is on £170,000 a year, is now facing conflict of interest claims.
It follows our story last week on Judge Fiona Beach, who was also part of Bail for Immigration Detainees.
Judge Canavan hit the headlines after declining to overturn a decision that let a Jamaican rapist stay in Britain.
The attacker, 41, was jailed for seven years after attacking a sleeping woman at a house party.
An unnamed First-Tier Tribunal judge upheld his appeal against deportation and, in the Upper Tier, Judge Canavan let the decision stand.
She accepted his claim that, as a bisexual, he would face “persecution” if sent home.
There was no evidence of relationships with men since coming to Britain in 2001.
Judge Canavan also let crack dealer Jabril Hussein Abdullahi, 24, stay because he was “young for his age” and “naive”.
She feared he could go astray if returned to Italy — even though he failed to turn up for his own hearing.
The judge was given a “thank you” in the 2005 and 2006 annual reports for Bail for Immigration Detainees as “a barrister who volunteered their time to represent clients in court”.
She was listed as a “senior caseworker” at the pro-migrant Refugee Legal Centre in a report on child asylum seekers.
Records show she wrote for the Socialist Lawyer magazine.
She became an immigration tribunal judge after a decade as a barrister.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said the “mind-blowing” move to let the rapist remain was example of an immigration judge “whose political views happen to overlap with their decisions”.
KEMI BACKING HOTELS REVOLT
By SOPHIA SLEIGH
KEMI Badenoch is rallying Tory councillors to launch legal challenges against asylum hotels.
The Conservative Party leader is hosting an online summit of lawyers and local leaders on Tuesday.
It comes after Tory-run Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court to stop asylum seekers being housed at The Bell Hotel.
Ms Badenoch said: “I’m determined to give other excellent Conservative councillors the tools to take on this incompetent Labour Government.”
She said people in Epping “just want their local area to be safe”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has appealed against the court’s stance.
She said the asylum system would be plunged into “chaos” if hotels close as a result of “piecemeal court decisions”.
He said last night: “It destroys confidence in the justice system. The British people are sick of the mounting evidence of a politicised legal system. The judiciary must win back their confidence.”
Last weekend, we told how Judge Beach sat on the board of immigration charity Asylum Aid before being appointed.
She sparked controversy by refusing to deport a French-born serial criminal. Her decision was overturned on appeal.
Last year, senior immigration judge Sarah Pinder was slammed for calling immigration detention centres “abhorrent” in a pro-open borders magazine.
A judiciary spokeswoman said: “Judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented to them.”
A judiciary spokeswoman said: ‘Judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented to them’[/caption]
BRITS ‘HAVE HAD ENOUGH’ OF BOATS
By SOPHIA SLEIGH
REFORM MP Lee Anderson reckons “there is a reckoning coming” because fed-up Brits “have had enough” of small boat crossings.
In today’s Sun on Sunday, he writes: “We need to detain and deport illegal immigrants. Then I think they’re going to stop coming, and we can get back to some sort of peace and normality.”
Party leader Nigel Farage is to publish plans for the removal of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
He claims five full charter flights will leave every day.
He will suggest arresting asylum seekers on arrival, automatic detention and forced deportation.
Reform say their plans will cost £10billion over five years, but would save money as £7billion a year would not go on hotels and other costs.