Yet another rape of a woman in the UK, committed by a migrant, has once again stirred up debate over migrants’ rights, as the migrant won his appeal against the Home Office’s decision to deport him.
The compelling story of Gift Oladele, a 24-year-old migrant from Nigeria, is forcing the UK to reconsider its immigration policy and its membership of the European Court of Human Rights. Oladele’s case has made a big impression on British society, among both politicians and ordinary citizens.
At the age of 11, Oladele moved from Nigeria to the UK, and since then he has lived in the country permanently, without visiting his homeland. He held a valid entry permit until the year 2014, but remained in the UK illegally until February 2018. Oladele was then granted a residence permit, which was due to expire in 2024.
A series of events began in 2022 that caused a public outcry. Oladele was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in December 2022 after a jury found him guilty of unlawfully depriving a woman of her liberty. As the court heard, following his arrest in May of that year, he told the police that he “just wanted to get it on with her.” Following his conviction for an assault in broad daylight in Middleton, the Home Office ordered his deportation.
But Oladele, using a legal trick, successfully appealed against this decision. He put forward arguments based on the fact that this violated his human rights. However, the Home Office upheld its decision on deportation, leading to Oladeole lodging an appeal with the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal on 24 June 2023. Notwithstanding the nature of the offence, the Tribunal ruled in Oladele’s favour and stated that the Home Office’s refusal to revoke the deportation order constituted a “breach of the applicant’s protected rights” under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The tribunal’s leniency led to Oladele, upon his release from prison, dragging a 19-year-old girl into a wood last September as she was walking home from a party in Wrexham, Wales, and brutally raping her.
In connection with the offence he committed in Manchester, a decision was made to deport him under the UK Borders Act 2007. Oladele put forward arguments regarding his right to “private life,” but the Home Office stated these arguments were not sufficiently compelling to outweigh the public interest in deportation.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This is an absolutely horrific case, and our thoughts are with the victim of this heinous crime. Foreign nationals who commit crimes should be in no doubt that we will aim to remove them from the UK at the earliest opportunity. The Home Secretary has announced sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration, which will make the UK less attractive to illegal migrants and make it easier to remove them.”
The hearing took place on 15 December 2023 before a tribunal judge, with Oladele named as the appellant and the then Conservative Home Secretary, James Cleverly, MP, as the respondent. Oladele said that since his release from prison, he had worked hard, focusing on staying off drugs and rehabilitation. He also mentioned that he has a family in the UK with his partner and a personal life, and that he would face insurmountable obstacles if deported to Nigeria. His mother also stressed that her son had never been to Nigeria, knew no one in the country, and that her entire family lived in the UK.
The Home Office argued that Oladele met the definition of a “foreign criminal” as he had not been socially and culturally integrated into the UK due to his criminal record. It noted that he had an understanding of life in Nigeria, having grown up in a Nigerian family.
The judge made the opposite statement: “I find that the only thing that distinguishes him from any other resident of Manchester is his precarious immigration status and the fact that he has been found guilty of a serious criminal offence. I find that he is socially and culturally integrated. Weighing everything, I find that the matter is finely balanced. The offence that the Appellant committed was very serious and I find that there is a strong public interest in deporting and excluding foreign criminals, especially one who has committed a frightening and public assault. However, I have found that the factors on the Appellant’s side of the balance sheet – in particular the fact that he would be a complete outsider should he relocate to Nigeria, with the attendant risks; that he has a well-established private life having grown up in the United Kingdom; and that he has engaged positively in a process of rehabilitation, which has reduced the risk of reoffending – are just sufficiently compelling to outweigh those on the Respondent’s side.”
Therefore, instead of deporting the offender, who had committed a crime outside his home country and was residing in the country illegally, the judge concluded the “maintenance of the deportation order is not proportionate under Article 8 of the ECHR.” The Home Office’s refusal to revoke the deportation order and to dismiss his application alleging a violation of human rights allegedly led to a breach of the applicant’s protected rights.
A letter from a probation officer dated 27 October 2023, sent to the tribunal, contributed to the case. It said Oladele was co-operating with the services and was currently assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending. “It is respectfully stated at this present time that there are no ongoing concerns in relation to Mr Oladele,” the letter stated.
In 2026, in March, a jury at Mold Crown Court found him guilty of rape and sexual assault, and Oladele was sentenced to 17 years in prison. The jury heard evidence he had covered the victim’s mouth with his hand, pushed her into a path in the woods, and then raped her.
Elsie Blundell, Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton North, told the Manchester Evening News: “This is unacceptable and this result undermines the sense of justice that Gift Oladele’s victims have a right to expect. He should be deported immediately. The tribunal’s decision to revoke the deportation order came before the 2024 election, making it yet another example of the abject failure of the last Conservative Government’s approach to immigration, combined with Nigel Farage’s vote against granting Border Security new powers and funding. Instead, Shabana Mahmood is getting things done, transforming the Home Office and our Border Security forces so that they are fit for purpose. Where individuals pose threats to individuals and communities, they should be removed. It’s as simple as that. It is cases like this that erode the public’s faith in a firm but fair asylum system, but I want my constituents to be assured that I will be taking this forward. Where individuals pose threats to individuals and communities, they should be removed. It’s as simple as that. It is cases like this that erode the public’s faith in a firm but fair asylum system.”
Rhetoric regarding deportations and withdrawal from the ECHR has been raised on more than one occasion by British politicians. Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, stated that “He should have been deported but apparently that would breach HIS human rights. Then he violently raped a 19-year-old girl. If I am Home Secretary, we’re leaving the ECHR and men like this will be kicked out.”
Robert Lowe, of Restor Britain, stated that “This Nigerian man successfully fought a deportation on human rights grounds. He has just been jailed for 17 years for dragging a young woman into woods and assaulting her. He was already on bail for another rape allegation. <…> But the fact that Oladele would be ‘a complete outsider should he relocate to Nigeria’ and that he had a ‘developed private life having grown up in the United Kingdom’ outweighed the public interest in deporting him.’”
This case highlights just how flawed the system is, and it is currently all too easy to exploit its leniency under the pretext of “human rights violations.” Calls to amend the law so that any non-British citizen who commits a crime is deported often reflect the mood that has been formed towards migrants, as the crime rate in the country does indeed leave much to be desired. There have been cases where, instead of deportation or imprisonment following a serious crime, the accused was let off lightly.
