Asylum-seeker raped a schoolgirl - Cannot be stripped of British citizenship

A bogus asylum seeker who raped a schoolgirl cannot be stripped of his British citizenship due to bungling officials.

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 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, officials had suspected as early as 2005 that he'd been granted refugee status under a false identity - yet they had 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:

He boasted: 'I'm all right, I've got no worries here. 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.

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.

This time he was granted refugee status and was awarded a British passport in 2011, settling in east London.

On January 7, 2015, Gjergji pulled up alongside a 15-year-old girl who was walking alone and persuaded her to get into his car.

He then drove her to a quiet street before ordering her into the back, pulling down her trousers and raping her.

At his 2017 trial, Gjergji was convicted of rape after the jury deliberated for less than an hour.

In 2019, documents were uncovered that proved he had been born in Albania, and the Home Office informed him he was being stripped of his British citizenship on the grounds that he had obtained it 'by means of fraud'.

However Gjergji appealed, with his lawyers arguing evidence about his true nationality was available when he was granted British citizenship and it would therefore be 'unfair' to use it to throw him out over a decade later.

Gjergji's wife had admitted he was Albanian when she applied to join him in 2005, while the false identity under which he had first applied for asylum was filed as being Albanian.

Allowing his appeal, Upper Tribunal Judge Therese Kamara ruled that evidence of Gjergji's true nationality had been available to the Home Office 'nearly 20 years earlier' but had been 'either disregarded or mishandled'.

'We accept that it is unfair for the respondent [the Home Office] to now seek to rely upon this information as a basis for depriving the appellant [Gjergji] of his citizenship,' she added.

Asked about his rape conviction, Gjergji brazenly tried to blame the victim, saying once again that he'd believed she was a prostitute.

'It's all done with now anyway,' he insisted, saying he had served his prison sentence. 'What more do you want?'

A Home Office investigation revealed that up to 300 Albanians had falsely claimed to be from Kosovo in order to win asylum in Britain.