A migrant gangster who killed an 18-year-old cannot be sent back to his home country due to European Union rules.
William George, a 28-year-old semi-professional footballer, was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter in 2018 for his role in the murder of Abdul Hafidah.
The 18-year-old was kicked, stabbed and hit with a hammer by a gang of 10 men during the rush-hour commute in Moss Side, Manchester in May 2016.
Hafidah, who was a childhood friend of Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena bomber, was also ran over by a car. He died two days later in hospital.
The 18-year-old was attacked in front of a number of witnesses when he ventured into an area said to be the “territory” of the notorious AO gang, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
At Manchester Crown Court, 10 men were jailed for up to 23 years and a 14-year-old boy was detained for five years for murder or manslaughter.
George, a Belgian national, first moved to the UK with his parents when he was 10.
Following his sentencing, the Home Office served him deportation papers, which said that he had a “real risk” of reoffending.
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Despite his affiliation with the gang, EU legislation has now ruled that the 28-year-old can remain in the UK.
Brussels directives state that EU nationals who lived in the UK for an extended time could only be deported “on imperative grounds of public security” - a criteria that judges have decided George does not meet.
The ruling ended a six-year legal battle fought by the Home Office to have George removed. The government department fought the ruling at the Court of Appeal but it was found by three judges that the immigration tribunal had acted lawfully.
Lord Justice Nicholas Underhill said George enjoyed “the highest level of protection against removal” as a European Economic Area (EEA) national and that there had been no “express misdirection of law”.
An immigration tribunal ruled that the 28-year-old has expressed genuine remorse and has “no intention of getting involved in any criminal offending in the future”.
Judge Bruce said: “William George was a promising footballer. He had moved away from home almost two years before this offence, having secured a semi-professional contract at Morecambe FC and a scholarship to Lancaster College.
“He had GSCEs, went straight from school up to Morecambe, had no criminal convictions and a part-time job in a restaurant. He had also worked coaching children football.
“He had, by all accounts, a good relationship with his parents, who had provided him with a stable and supportive home. That was his life until that afternoon in May 2016. His involvement in the killing of Mr Hafidah changed all of that.
“He has spent almost all of the past seven years in prison, and has only recently been released on licence. He is now living in a bail hostel some distance from his parents. He has no job and is not currently in education.
“He has had an extreme and profound education about the dangers of violence. When he says that he has no intention of getting involved in any criminal offending in the future, I believe him.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.”
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