JENNI MURRAY: Rapist who changed my mind about our human rights folly

• Yaqub Ahmed, a  Somalian convicted of rape in the UK, dodged deportation for five years
• READ MORE: Why won’t ANY party stand up for the rights of women?

It’s not often a story in a newspaper makes you shriek with shock and anger. But that’s what happened to me as I read in The Mail on Sunday: 

‘After five years, 24 court appearances, 20 judges and £85,000 in legal aid, Britain finally sends plane mutiny rapist back to Somalia . . . with plush hotel, armed guards and therapy you paid for.’

What? Have we gone utterly mad? This was the story of Yaqub Ahmed, a 34-year-old Somalian, convicted of rape in this country, who was ordered to be deported in 2018, but who played on Britain’s concern for human rights to stay here for an extra five years.

He was originally put on a Turkish Airlines flight to Somalia in 2018. However, a dozen passengers mutinied, demanding he should not be deported. 

As the four-strong Home Office team frog-marched him from the plane, one of the holidaymakers called out: ‘You’re free, mate.’

Yaqub Ahmed (pictured), a 34-year-old Somalian, was convicted of rape in the UK and was ordered to be deported in 2018. He ended up staying in the country for another five years 

I’m ashamed to say if I had been on that plane, I may well have shared their view: that deporting a frightened young man, who may be at risk of torture or death in Somalia, was a cruel breach of his human rights.

But those deluded passengers had no idea of the crime Ahmed had committed, which I believe should have made it impossible for him to be given the right to remain in this country.

When it comes to criminals using human rights as a defence in their attempts to achieve an easy life in Britain, I’ve had the wool pulled over my eyes for far too long.

Ahmed came to this country in 2003 as a 14-year-old teenage boy from Somalia. He was granted refugee status, but a mere five years later, he was in jail. He and three other men had lured a young teenage girl to a flat in London where they attacked her.

The judge told him he had ‘no respect for other human beings’ — but he was determined to achieve respect for his human rights. It seems he found no lack of soft-hearted lawyers to support his aims. 

In 2015, Theresa May, then the Home Secretary, stripped him of his refugee status and put a deportation order on him. He fought back with a series of hearings going as far as the Court of Appeal. 

Six successive Home Secretaries tried to remove him from the UK — all foiled by crafty human rights lawyers and sympathetic supporters like those well-intentioned plane passengers.

Mary Harper, the BBC World Service’s Africa Editor, even appeared as an expert witness, supporting Ahmed’s contention he would be targeted by terrorists if he were sent back.

Just five years after being granted refugee status in the UK, Ahmed was in jail. He and three other men had lured a young teenage girl to a flat in London where they attacked her

Why was a BBC editor giving evidence on this case? Maybe the BBC doesn’t pay her well enough; I’m told she may have been paid £3,000 for her views on Ahmed.

In which case it’s surprising she doesn’t seem to have done it very well. Judges dismissed many of her claims, raised questions about her objectivity and said she appeared to have failed to read thoroughly ‘key material regarding the appellant’s case’.

That’s £1 million of taxpayers’ money wasted on the legal, prison and deportation costs of one person smart enough to play the system — and dozens of do-good lawyers pleased to profit from it.

Ahmed has finally been thrown out but with a welfare package of mental health support and the opportunity to stay in a luxury hotel — for which many other young people in genuine need, and with no stain on their character, would be grateful.

A convicted rapist deserves none of this largesse, nor I suspect do any of the 14,700 foreign criminals removed by the Home Office between January 2019 and March 2023.

A spokesman said: ‘Returning foreign national offenders to their country can involve enormous challenges. Occasionally, support packages are required to secure agreement from the court to proceed with deportation.’

Nonsense! The answer to the question of what to do with a foreign national offender is simple. Throw them out! 

I am a supporter of the human rights of anyone in genuine danger to be given refuge in a place where they’ll be safe. I am also committed to the rule of law. If they break that law they should be deported.

Jenni is convinced that foreign national offenders should be deported from the UK

I never thought I’d hear myself saying the laws on human rights should be reassessed, but here I am. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary must take the bull by the horns on illegal immigration, the horror of the boats crossing the Channel and the endless debate about Rwanda.

I have no doubt the European Court of Human Rights is an honourable institution, but Ahmed’s case shows what adherence to the rules imposes on us. Rishi Sunak is right to plan emergency legislation, a new treaty to take on Strasbourg if necessary.

I agree totally with the young woman who was a victim of Ahmed. Criticising our justice system, she said: ‘He negated his human rights after he did what he did. It wasn’t a human thing to do.

‘Why are his human rights being prioritised above mine and people like me?’

Eugenie’s right: Stop body shaming

Princess Eugenie has admitted that she still has ‘issues around food’, having been called chubby in the past 

Princess Eugenie says she still has ‘issues around food’, recalling comments made about her looking chubby. I know how she feels. 

I was not in the public eye as she was when the ‘too fat, too thin, you’re not wearing that’, came at me thick and fast. It was my mother, but no matter where it comes from, the hurt lasts for ever and it’s time it stopped. 

Ursula Andress in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr No

How did Dr No bikini go for less than a robe?

There was a surprise at the auction of garments worn by Ursula Andress in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr No. 

The famous white bikini sold for less than the rather plain bathrobe she also wore: £87,500 for the dressing gown — twice what was paid for the bikini in 2001. 

After seeing that film aged 12, with that strong woman powering through the waves, throughout my teenage years I wanted nothing more than to be Ursula Andress in that bikini. Still do! 

The BBC is to film the final book in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s right-hand man. 

Of the three books, Hilary told me she found this one, The Mirror And The Light, the most difficult to write, as his execution was so hard to describe. 

‘Was she a little bit in love with him?’ I asked her. Very quietly she murmured: ‘I think I may be.’ 

Don’t fall for a Venus flytrap 

This year’s John Lewis Christmas advert featured Snapper, a mischievous Venus flytrap

There was a bit of a craze for a Venus flytrap when my two were young. I gave in to pester power, but take my advice: don’t let your children be seduced by Snapper in the John Lewis Christmas ad. 

Ours lasted around three weeks and never caught a single fly.

M&S says the middle classes are as likely to steal stuff as the less well-off. At least the big stores can afford security. I worry about the little shops near me. Thieves wander around, openly filling their bags in the chemist or the grocer, then stroll out. What’s a small shopkeeper to do?

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