A migrant who raped a 19-year-old girl had previously avoided deportation following a separate sexually-motivated attack after officials ruled he would lost his right to a family life, a court has heard. 

Nigerian national Gift Oladele, 24, was found guilty last week of raping a 19-year-old woman in woodland, near Wrexham last September.

And now it has been revealed that Mr Oladele was jailed in December 2022 for two years for falsely imprisoning a woman in Manchester who feared she would be raped in broad daylight.

The Home Office ordered his deportation in 2023, but Oladele successfully appealed that order, allowing him to go on to rape a North Wales teenager.

Despite being labelled a ‘devious and manipulative’ dangerous offender by a sentencing judge, Oladele successfully blocked his deportation by citing his right to a ‘family and private life’ under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

After the Home Office ordered Oladele’s deportation in early 2023, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal later overturned this decision, ruling that removing him would be a ‘breach of protected rights.’ 

Though born in Italy, he moved to the UK at age 11. The tribunal judge found him ‘socially and culturally integrated,’ noting his education and life in Manchester. 

After a 2022 conviction for false imprisonment in Manchester (mugshot above), the Home Office ordered Gift Oladele’s deportation. However, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal overturned the move, ruling it a ‘breach of protected rights’

Oladele was jailed in December 2022 for two years for falsely imprisoning a woman in Manchester who feared she would be raped in broad daylight. CCTV images (above) show him at the scene

A probation report from October 2023 assessed him as a low risk for reoffending, noting his positive engagement with support services. 

In September last year, Oladele dragged a 19-year-old woman into the woods as she walked home from a night out in Wrexham, before violently raping her. 

After the terrifying ordeal, he told her, ‘this will teach you a lesson not to trust strangers’. 

He was convicted last Friday and told he faces a lengthy prison term.

The Home Office said this was an ‘absolutely horrific case’ and that the defendant had successfully appealed a deportation order after the first offence to remove him from the country.

Oladele argued he had never visited Nigeria and would be a ‘complete outsider’ there.

His partner also testified she would not relocate with him if he were deported.

Tribunal Judge James A. Simpson acknowledged the ‘strong public interest’ in deporting foreign criminals who commit serious offences. 

However, he concluded the case was ‘finely balanced,’ ultimately ruling that Mr Oladele’s rehabilitation and lack of ties to Nigeria were sufficiently compelling to outweigh the deportation order. 

Oladele was previously jailed for two years after being convicted of false imprisonment

The judge said: ‘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 attendant risks, that he has a developed private life having grown up in the United Kingdom and that he has engaged positively in a process of rehabilitation and that this has had the impact of reducing the risk of reoffending, are just sufficiently compelling to outweigh those on the Respondent’s side.’

He concluded that the ‘continuation of the deportation order is not proportionate under Article 8 ECHR.’ They said the refusal by the Home Office to revoke the deportation order and to refuse his human rights claim has resulted in a breach of the Appellant’s protected rights.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘This is an absolutely horrific case, and our thoughts are with the victim of this heinous criminal.

‘Foreign nationals who commit crimes should be in zero 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 for illegal migrants and make it easier to remove them.’

Oladele is expected to be sentenced for the rape next month.