Britain Finding It Difficult To Deport Notorious Gangster To Nigeria

A gangster who has terrorised residents and businesses in south London could soon be back on the streets after ministers failed to deport him despite four years of trying.

Joland Giwa, whose street name is Dexter and is a self-confessed “general” of Croydon gang Don’t Say Nothing, has been in detention since 2009.

A judge has now given immigration officials three months to get him travel documents and deport him or he must be released.

Giwa, 24, arrived in Britain from Nigeria with his twin brother Mikey in 1999 when they were 10 years old, claiming their parents had been killed in the civil war in Sierra Leone and requesting asylum. Their claim was rejected but they were given permanent leave to remain in 2005.

By then Giwa already had a conviction for handling stolen goods and over the next four years he committed a string of robberies and thefts which led to a 27-month jail term in February 2009.

Time served meant he was due to be released later that year and while in jail he posted a picture of himself flexing his muscles on Facebook using a phone which had been smuggled into prison and boasted he would be out “real soon.”

However, he was instead moved to an immigration centre as officials tried to expel him from the UK. He was transferred to Belmarsh prison in March 2011 after intelligence suggested he was involved in smuggling drugs into the detention centre.

Police have investigated a YouTube video in which Giwa boasted about stabbing a man “in the f***ing head” and warning rival gangs “Croydon is our town”. His twin brother was jailed for trying to smuggle heroin and sim cards in to Belmarsh last year.

Immigration officials have failed to secure a passport to deport Giwa. Both Sierra Leone and Nigeria have failed to accept he is a national of their respective countries. New talks between the Home Office and the Sierra Leone High Commission are due this week.

Judge John Keyser QC said the Home Office was “entirely justified in coming to the view that the claimant presents a very significant risk both of absconding and reoffending” and that he presents a “serious risk of violence.”

But he said the length of his detention — 53 months — had been “pushed to the limit of what is capable of being considered reasonable”.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Giwa is a dangerous individual ... work continues to remove him from the UK.”