Freed, thug who cant be deported

Joland Giwa is back on Britain's streets after attempts by the government to have him deported floundered amid failures to decide which country should take him

A violent gangster who was due to have been deported is back on the streets of Britain because officials cannot work out where to send him.

Joland Giwa had been kept locked up for more than four years after finishing a jail sentence for a string of street robberies.

But immigration officials have been unable to determine his nationality, with both Nigeria and Sierra Leone refusing to accept him.

They cannot even be sure he gave the correct name and age when he sought asylum in Britain. However, a judge ruled it was unfair to keep Giwa locked up if there was no prospect of him being deported – even though he presents a ‘serious risk of violence’ and there is ‘a very significant risk both of absconding and reoffending’.

Giwa – the ‘general’ of an 80-strong gang behind a spate of stabbings, shootings and killings on the streets of Croydon, South London, in 2007 – was freed last month.

He must wear an electronic tag to monitor his movements, has been told he must live in Cardiff and is banned from returning to London.

Last night the farce was condemned by Tory MPs.

James Clappison, a member of the Commons home affairs committee said: ‘The public would expect us to be able to protect them from this kind of person in these circumstances. He obviously came here some time ago, but that shouldn’t stop us sending him back. We need to be able to deport somebody whenever it’s necessary to protect the public.’

Giwa, who is thought to be 24, arrived at Heathrow with his twin brother in 1999 on a flight from Nigeria.

He had no parent or guardian and no passport or identity documents. He claimed asylum, telling officials he was a ten-year-old from Sierra Leone whose parents were killed in its civil war.

His asylum claim was refused but he was given permission to stay for four years, before being given a permanent right to stay in 2005.

He soon became involved in crime, running Croydon’s notorious Don’t Say Nothing gang and using the street name Dexter.

Giwa has been linked to at least 99 incidents of criminal or anti-social behaviour.

SOURCE-DAILYM