Abdi Sufi, a serial criminal from Somalia whose legal appeal has prevented Britain deporting hundreds of undesirable immigrants, is already back on the streets

Sufi, 24, has at least 17 convictions for crimes including burglary, fraud and indecent exposure since he entered Britain illegally. But an attempt by the Home Office to send him back to his homeland of Somalia has been thwarted by judges in Strasbourg, who ruled that he would face the risk of inhumane treatment if he was returned. He is now living freely in London. The ruling in the key test case means that more than 200 further Somalis appealing against deportation, most of them convicted criminals, will be able to remain in Britain. The ruling illustrates how human rights legislation is being exploited by lawyers and foreign criminals to make a mockery of British justice. Sufi arrived in Britain as a 16 year-old in 2003, having paid a trafficking agent for false identity documents to get on a flight from Somalia via Dubai. He sought asylum, claiming that he belonged to a clan persecuted by militia, but his claim was rejected and a tribunal found that his account was not credible. Nevertheless, he was placed in the care of social services until he turned 18. In that year, 2005, he was convicted of burglary and dishonestly obtaining goods by deception, and ordered to spend 18 months in Feltham Young Offenders Institution. He later committed further crimes, including indecent exposure, theft and making threats to kill, culminating in a 2009 sentence of 32 months for five counts of burglary.