An Albanian paedophile who raped a 15-year-old schoolgirl but cannot be deported out of the UK has bragged that he has ‘no worries here’ and is happy he can’t go back home because ‘there are lots of bad people there’.
Asylum seeker Gjin Gjergji, now 52, claimed to be fleeing war-torn Kosovo when he arrived in the UK in 2000 – and has lived on hand-outs ever since.
But after his rape conviction in 2015 it emerged that he was in reality one of hundreds of Albanians who had falsely claimed to be Kosovan to win refugee status.
The Home Office attempted to revoke his British passport so he could be kicked out after his six-year prison term.
However, officers had suspected as early as 2005 that he’d been granted refugee status under a false identity – yet bungling officials failed to take action.
Now an immigration tribunal has concluded that it would be ‘unfair’ to strip him of British citizenship when evidence available almost 20 years ago was ‘disregarded’.
While the decision is likely to horrify his victim and her family, Audi-driving Gjergji was unapologetic when confronted by the Daily Mail. ‘I’m all right, I’ve got no worries here,’ he boasted. ‘I came to the UK because I wanted a better life, and I’ve found it. I like it here.’
Gjergji said he believed he has a right to stay in the UK because he has a family here and his native Albania is too dangerous.
‘There are lots of bad people there,’ he added, without a hint of irony.
Despite that, he plans to visit his elderly mother and other relatives in Albania once his new UK passport arrives.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, condemned how Gjergji had managed to exploit loopholes and go on to commit such a ‘horrendous’ crime.
He said: ‘Why was this person ever granted citizenship? The Home Office owes us an explanation.
‘That this vile individual cannot now be sent back to Albania adds insult to injury. Why in heaven’s name not, would be the question from most people.’
Gjergji originally applied for asylum in 1999, but was sent back to Germany after a fingerprint check revealed he had made a claim there under a different name.
He tried again under what is believed to be his real name the following year, claiming to be from Kosovo, which had broken away from the former Yugoslavia leading to attacks on ethnic Albanians from Serb nationalists.