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Error gave sex attacker passport | Error gave sex attacker passport |
(about 3 hours later) | |
A Somali asylum seeker jailed for several sex attacks but allowed to stay in the UK was given a British passport "in error", the Home Office has said. | A Somali asylum seeker jailed for several sex attacks but allowed to stay in the UK was given a British passport "in error", the Home Office has said. |
Last week Sadiq Mohammed, 31, was jailed indefinitely by Bristol Crown Court for molesting a young girl. | Last week Sadiq Mohammed, 31, was jailed indefinitely by Bristol Crown Court for molesting a young girl. |
He had previously been recommended for deportation after attacking three women in 1999, including a teenage girl. | |
A Home Office spokesman said an investigation had been carried out and appropriate action taken. | |
"The issuing of a British passport to Mr Mohammed was the result of a one-off error by an individual passport examiner," said the spokesman. | "The issuing of a British passport to Mr Mohammed was the result of a one-off error by an individual passport examiner," said the spokesman. |
There's a real reason to expect that he will commit a similar offence in the future Judge Tom Crowther | |
"The passport in question has been revoked. | "The passport in question has been revoked. |
"This should not affect any deportation process concerning Mr Mohammed." | "This should not affect any deportation process concerning Mr Mohammed." |
On Friday, Judge Tom Crowther, sitting at Bristol Crown Court, said Mohammed posed a great risk to the UK public and recommended him for deportation again. | |
"There's a real reason to expect that he will commit a similar offence in the future, he said. | |
"It's right now, as it was in 2000 with Judge Bootham, to recommend to the Home Secretary that he be deported. | |
"Whether he is or not is outside the realms of my jurisdiction." | |
The jury at his most recent trial had been told Mohammed, of Ecclestone House, Barton Hill, Bristol, had attacked three women near his home in 1999. | |
'Gross error' | |
He was jailed for four years on one count of sexual assault and two of common assault, which the court had heard were both sexually motivated, and recommended for deportation. | |
Mohammed was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register. | |
In what the Home Office described as a "gross error", he was issued with a British passport in 2005. | |
In 2006, Mohammed took a seven-year-old girl from outside a shop and sexually assaulted her in his Barton Hill flat. | |
He had denied one charge of child abduction and sexual assault, but a jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty on both counts. | He had denied one charge of child abduction and sexual assault, but a jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty on both counts. |
Public protection is the overarching priority of the Home Office Home Office spokesman | |
Sentencing Mohammed, Judge Crowther handed him an indeterminate jail term and said he would need to serve a minimum of three years before he could be considered for parole. | |
Mohammed had interrupted the sentencing hearing, claiming he was a British citizen and held a legitimate British passport. | Mohammed had interrupted the sentencing hearing, claiming he was a British citizen and held a legitimate British passport. |
A Home Office spokesman said: "The government has made clear that public protection is the overarching priority of the Home Office. | |
"Whilst our policy is to seek to enforce removals to all countries, there are some countries, like Somalia, that historically it has been difficult to enforce removals to. | |
"Mogadishu International Airport has now reopened and commercial airlines are flying in and out of without hindrance." |