Law is an Ass
Apparently a chap called Joseph Mjemer - who arrived in the UK as a stowaway in 2003 - was held by Home Office officials as they tried to establish his country of origin.
Mr Mjemer (28) was convicted of more than 20 criminal offences - including property damage, dangerous driving and attempting to obtain property by deception - in the three years following his arrival in Britain.
Since when the immigration authorities have been trying to deport him - so far without success.
Because Joseph claimed asylum in the UK and the whole business has dragged through the courts for years - all at public expense.
After being jailed a number of times - Joseph was taken into "administrative custody" in 2007 - because immigration officials feared that he would abscond if freed - while they tried to establish his country of origin.
No doubt with less than full cooperation on Joseph's part.
Incredibly the High Court ruled that Joseph's detention had been lawful for most of that period - but had been illegal between January and May 2011.
The reason being that the attempts to establish his nationality had faltered - and there was no realistic prospect of deportation during that period.
So Joseph was freed to cause more mayhem on our streets - but the court also decided that he should be paid damages for his loss of liberty - to the tune of £17,360.
And this despite the fact that Joseph - who only brought the action after being granted legal aid - had also used at least five aliases - claiming variously to be British, Italian, Moroccan, Algerian and stateless.
Aye, right.
Which all goes to show that the law can be a complete ass sometimes.
And it's exactly this kind of ridiculous case - that gives asylum seekers and our humans rights legislation a bad name.
