A migrant jailed for raping his wife and his sister in Britain will not be deported because he is bisexual.

The 51-year-old Jamaican man was jailed for a total of 18 years, but will remain in the UK after it was ruled that deportation would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Home Office had rejected his initial appeal against deportation, calling him a ‘danger to the community’, but an immigration tribunal has now ruled that sending the migrant back puts him at risk due to his sexuality.

Granted anonymity and referred to by the initials ‘OB’, the Upper Tribunal in London heard that the migrant was jailed for five years in 2013 for raping his wife and put on the sex offenders’ register for life. 

One year later, he was convicted of historical sex offences for the attempted rape of a female under 16, rape of a female over 16, and penetrative sex by a person over 16 on a relative over 18 and was jailed at Basildon Crown Court for 13 years.

At the time, the sentencing judge said: ‘I have no doubt he will continue to minimise and blame others for this conviction. It would appear that he also managed to manipulate his family to ensure that they did not believe his sister.’

OB – who claims he is a famous musician and teacher in Jamaica – had come to the UK in 2003 legally and worked in a senior teaching role. His wife and child later joined him.

When he received a deportation order in 2018, as per Home Office rules to deport foreign national offenders after they serve a criminal sentence, he claimed asylum because he said that he would be at risk if he returned home as a bisexual man.

Due to his ‘particularly serious offence’ he was rejected by the Home Office. A first-tier immigration court then accepted the migrant was bisexual but still ordered his deportation, but the upper tribunal overturned that decision due to Article 3, which states ‘no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’.

In Jamaica, consensual same-sex activity between men is criminalised and same-sex marriage is banned. OB now claims to be engaged to a younger man, who was 20 years old when he first proposed.

Immigration judge Joanna McWilliam said ‘there is nothing positive to say about his presence in the UK’ and deporting him is in the public interest, but had to allow OB’s appeal under the ECHR.

Judge McWilliam said that prosecutions for homosexuality are now less frequent, but gay people still suffer ‘mob violence’ and this would be a risk for the migrant.

The 51-year-old migrant – who claims he is a famous musician and teacher in Jamaica – was jailed for a total of 18 years at Basildon Combined Court

She said: ‘On the basis that [OB] is a bisexual man, I accept that there are aspects of his case which are supported by the background evidence.

‘Moreover, while the [Home Office] says that [OB] has not provided evidence of past persecution, he mentioned past persecution in his asylum interview.

‘He said that he was regularly hit with sticks and was hit with a bottle. He was beaten up when he was aged 18 by a group of men with weapons.

‘They called him Batty Man. I have considered what [OB] said in the interview in the round.

‘Whilst I have great reservations about much of what [OB] says, considering this evidence in the context of the background evidence as a whole, it is credible that [OB] who has been found to be bisexual by the first-tier tribunal would have been perceived as gay and that as a result he would have been subject to attacks.

‘I accept that he was attacked, applying the lower standard of proof.’

Judge McWilliam ruled if the decision had been based on Article 8 of the ECHR, which protects the right to family life, she would not have allowed the appeal decision following his offences.

She said: ‘The comments of the sentencing judge about [OB] are illuminating. Having heard him give evidence I reach the same conclusion about his character.

‘In the absence of risk under Article 3, I would have no hesitation in dismissing the appeal under Article 8.

‘The [Offender Assessment System] report presents a negative picture of the [OB] who has at no time accepted responsibility for his heinous crimes.

‘The author of the report states that [OB] portrayed himself as the victim and that he was unable to show remorse. [OB] remains a risk to the public.

‘There is nothing positive to say about the [OB’s] presence in the UK. His philanthropic claims are fictional.

‘He presents a risk to children and young people. Hopefully he will not be placed in a position of trust in the future.

‘[OB’s] deportation is in the public interest and the only rational conclusion that could be reached on the evidence, in the absence of a risk under Article 3, is that any breach of [OB’s] rights under Article 8 would not come close to outweighing the public interest in his deportation.’

A Home Office spokesman said they can’t comment on individual cases, but said: ‘We are reforming our human rights laws to prevent them being abused by foreign criminals with no right to be in the UK.

‘This includes domestic legislation to tighten the application of the European Convention on Human Rights in immigration cases, and working with European partners to ensure it remains fit for modern migration challenges.’