Albanian burglar with almost 50 convictions wins the right to stay in the UK as 'his crimes weren't extreme enough to "revolt" the public'

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

An Albanian burglar with nearly 50 convictions has won the right to stay in the UK as 'his crimes were not extreme enough to "revolt" the public'.
Zenel Beshi has been dubbed a 'genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat' to the UK by the Home Office, which said he should be deported.
But upper immigration tribunal judge Leonie Hirst found his crimes were not of the 'very extreme' type that would cause 'deep public revulsion' - and let him stay.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the ruling was 'out of touch' as Beshi is 'clearly a danger to the British public', The Telegraph reports.
'It's time these judges started to prioritise protecting law-abiding British citizens instead of foreign criminals', he said.
Mr Philp added foreign criminals, no matter where their crime was committed, should all be sent back to their country of origin, 'no ifs, no buts'.
It comes as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper proposes to change the law to make it harder to allow foreign citizens to stay in the UK on a human rights claim.
Her suggested scheme would oblige judges to consider public safety more in such decisions.
Beshi came to the UK in August 2020 - three years after he received a six-year prison sentence in Turin, Italy.
As well as robbery and false imprisonment, he had been jailed for 44 counts of burglary and theft.
But he failed to disclose his previous convictions upon his arrival in Britain.
The Albanian applied for a European Economic Area (EEA) residence card, on the grounds he was a spouse of an EEA national.
He was granted this, after his application was initially refused and he appealed.
While he waited to hear back on this appeal, he applied for leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme.
The Home Office, though, decided to deport him as a threat to the British public.
Beshi appealed, which was upheld by a first tier tribunal, after a psychologist said he did not in fact constitute a 'serious threat' to society.
They also said he posed a 'low risk' of reoffending.
Ms Cooper appealed this decision - but an upper tribunal has now found Beshi not disclosing his previous convictions is of 'little relevance'.
Judge Hirst said the deportation threshold and notions of rehabilitation had been applied correctly.
She also lauded the legal arguments behind the decision to allow Beshi to stay as 'detailed, clear and well-structured'.
The judge found there was no legal mistake to require overturning the decision - and allowed the criminal to remain.
Almost half of Brits have no confidence that the police will show up if their home was burgled, a poll revealed earlier this year.
Some 46 per cent of adults said they did not believe a home burglary would be properly investigated, with 49 per cent saying the same for car thefts.
When looking at pensioners, with 54 per cent of those aged 65 or older expressing a lack of confidence in officers attending their property.
And fears are not unjustified, as police failed to solve 94 per cent of burglary cases in 2023/24, according to Home Office figures.
Just 16,912 (six per cent) of 266,215 recorded burglaries resulted in a charge.
In nearly three-quarters of cases police officers were unable to even identify a suspect, and a further 15 per cent ran into evidential difficulties after a suspect was identified.
Reported burglaries have fallen in the past decade, from around 444,000 in 2013/14 to the more than 266,000 in 2023/24.
Meanwhile, 13 per cent of people move house because they cannot bear to stay in their home after it has been burgled.
A similar proportion have said they are unable to stand being home alone after their house has been invaded.
A Home Office spokesperson has previously said: 'We do not agree with this judgment and are considering options for appeal.
'Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain's streets, including removal from the UK at the earliest opportunity.'