An illegal immigrant jailed for attempted rape received £27,000 ($33,500) of taxpayers’ money – three times the compensation his victim was entitled to – because he was held in custody for too long.
Bashdar Abdulla Qarani, 36, was supposed to have been deported from Britain in 2005 after being refused asylum. He had only managed to get into the UK by falsely claiming he was an Iranian opposition party member fleeing persecution. In fact, he is Kurdish.
He spent the next 12 years avoiding deportation, despite committing numerous offences in the UK including theft and carrying a knife between January 2010 and November 2011. Even though he has a criminal history, he was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK in August 2010.
On November 13, 2012 Qarani was jailed at Swansea Crown Court for four years for attempting to rape a woman.
On March 4, 2013, a deportation order was issued so that he could be removed from the UK at the end of his sentence.
In accordance with UK legal rules, Qarani was released on licence half way through his sentence in 2014. He was then locked up again under immigration laws to stop him disappearing before his deportation.
Officials at this point realized he had lied about his Iranian nationality and spent months trying to work out where he was really from.
Qarani then sued the UK Home Office for the delays, saying his human rights had been breached because his deportation had not been processed quickly enough.
Deputy High Court Judge Mr Justice Mott admitted Qarani had a long criminal history but sided with the sex attacker, ruling that he had been unlawfully detained for 11 months.
The judge awarded Qarani the £27,000 compensation.
Under Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority rules, the woman Qarani tried to rape would have been entitled to about a third of this sum. It’s not known if she ever claimed the money.
The UK Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases. Qarani is still facing deportation.
