An African thug who carried out horrifying acts of torture for Robert Mugabe has escaped jail – despite earning £151,000 while working illegally in Britain

Phillip Machemedze, 47, was able to work in Britain for seven years as a carer for those with learning disabilities and on a unit dealing with drug and alcohol addicts. He was able to secure the jobs by showing a letter from the Home Office, a National Insurance number and birth and marriage certificates. These documents were not checked properly in a series of failures. There was outrage earlier in 2011 when he was allowed to stay in Britain to protect his human rights. An immigration court in May 2011 ruled he must be allowed to stay because he could face mistreatment if sent back to Zimbabwe. He has admitted breaking immigration rules – but was told he will not be jailed if he volunteers for just half a day a week for the next six months. Machemedze – who is now jobless and trying to claim benefits – admitted two charges of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception. Judge Julian Lambert deferred sentencing for six months, but told him he had to work for half a day a week at his local Pentecostal church. Machemedze worked as a bodyguard in Mugabe’s feared Central Intelligence Organisation. An immigration hearing heard that he committed savage acts of extreme violence, including torturing numerous political opponents of the Mugabe regime. He smashed one victim’s jaw with a pair of pliers, before pulling out one of their teeth. Another victim was electrocuted, slapped, beaten and punched unconscious and a woman victim was taken to an underground cell where she was stripped naked and whipped. Machemedze admitted putting salt in her wounds. Richard Posner, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court that Machemedze arrived at Gatwick Airport from Zimbabwe in July 2000 and was given a six-month visitor visa which banned him from working. But he stayed in Britain, working illegally as a carer at the adolescent unit within The Priory, a drug and alcohol recovery hospital, in Stapleton, Bristol, from June 2005 to May 2010. He also worked as a support worker for the Milestones Trust, a learning disabilities and mental health charity from May 2003 to May 2010. In April 2005 bosses at the Milestones Trust were tipped off that Machemedze was working illegally but after Machemedze showed them the Home Office letter the matter was dropped. The court was told that in the seven years he had worked Machemedze took home a net income of around £151,000. Jane Chamberlain, defending, said that her client had indefinite leave to remain in the country and was allowed to work but was now unemployed and seeking benefits. Machemedze’s wife Febbie had been granted asylum. I wonder if the British realize, or even care, how ridiculous they look in the eyes of the sane world when they let scum like this stay in their country?