A BBC editor allegedly helped at least 15 Somali criminals including a gang rapist fight deportation cases and remain in the United Kingdom, as per British media reports. According to the reports, the BBC editor was hired as an expert witness to help these Somalian criminals in their deportation cases.
The African Editor of BBC World Service, Mary Harper was paid to give expert evidence for Yaqub Ahmed, a Somali gang rapist, as reported by Telegraph.
According to an investigation by The Mail, it was found that the BBC Editor gave expert witness evidence in a series of other controversial deportation appeals by Somali offenders as well. These include three other sex attackers, three drug dealers, and a career criminal who had spent a decade in British jails.
As per the report, in one incident, BBC Editor Mary Harper reportedly warned that the criminal’s repeated history of committing crimes in the UK would lead to his ostracisation by his clan if he was deported back to Somalia. Notably, the criminal had faced 39 convictions for 80 crimes over 17 years.
In another case, Harper reportedly warned that a 29-year-old Somalian sexual offender would be at “severely heightened risk” if he was deported back to Somalia as he had committed a sex crime. The Somalian accused had sexually assaulted a deaf girl who was 17 years of age.
However, his appeal against deportation was rejected by a judge who disagreed with the argument presented by BBC Editor Mary Harper.
According to the newspaper, some 16 months later, the attacker remains in the UK and has been living in a council flat with his family. Reportedly, the identification of the attacker has been prevented by law.
However, the BBC announced that Harper was leaving the organisation. It is understood that she will depart from BBC later this month. Her most recent role at the BBC was that of a journalist reporter. It is still unclear whether she quit the job or was sacked by the media corporation.
The details surfaced when a refugee, accused of orchestrating a chemical assault that wounded a mother and child, was rejected for asylum twice before eventually being granted permission to remain in the UK, claiming that he had converted to Christianity.
A nationwide manhunt was launched to apprehend Abdul Shokoor Ezedi (35) who arrived illegally in the country in the back of a lorry in 2016. He claimed that his life would be in danger if he was deported back to his native place, Afghanistan.
In 2018, he was found guilty of a sexual offence. Although his asylum plea was purportedly turned down twice, he was permitted to stay following an endorsement from a priest who affirmed his conversion and asserted that he has complete dedication to his newfound faith.
A Home Office spokesman said, “Foreign national offenders have no right to be in the UK, which is why we are deporting them and banning their return to the UK. Over 16,000 Foreign national offenders have been removed since January 2019. Through both our Nationality and Borders Act and the Illegal Migration Act, we are also ensuring they cannot frustrate the removal process.”
The BBC, on its part, separated itself from the “external work” of its staff. The media corporation argued that they are not against anyone acting as expert witnesses, they only need to get prior approval for it.
A BBC spokesman said: “While there is nothing in the BBC’s rules that prevent staff acting as expert witnesses, the BBC has clear processes in place to ensure any external work of this nature has prior approval. We are unable to comment on the specific details of this particular case and, more broadly, do not comment on individual staff matters.”
Meanwhile, there was no response from Harper to a request for comment.
Details of Ahmed’s case
Yaqub Ahmed, the Somali gang rapist whom the BBC editor allegedly helped, dragged a five-year legal battle to remain in the UK. He was deported from the country in November after 15 years only after agreeing to pay for his hotel and therapy.
He was sent to jail in 2008 after he and along with his three accomplices lured a minor girl to a London flat before attacking her. During the proceedings, a judge lambasted Ahmed for having “no respect for other human beings”. In 2015, then-Home Secretary Theresa May had subsequently stripped his refugee status and handed him a deportation order.
However, a lot of legal battles took place, even going up to the Court of Appeal, where government lawyers fought off three attempts by the rapist and his legal team to challenge the decisions. As reported by The Mail earlier, Ahmed’s legal, prison, and deportation costs ended up costing taxpayers up to £1 million.
