Chinese “snakehead” gangster can't be deported despite kidnapping and blackmail convictions 2 May 2013
His lawyers claimed that removing him from his new life at a Christian retreat where he lives for free would have a “devastating” effect
A Chinese “snakehead” gangster with convictions for kidnapping and blackmail has beaten deportation.
Tsai Wang Chen, 39, has won his appeal to stay in Britain – despite Home Secretary Theresa May spending thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money in an attempt to kick him out.
His lawyers used the Human Rights Act to claim that removing him from his new life – within an idyllic Christian retreat where he lives for free inside acres of private land – would have a “devastating” effect on him.
Chen admitted to an immigration court that he paid a Chinese “snakehead” gang, who profit from people smuggling and extortion, to sneak him into Britain.
Once here, he worked for Asian gangsters until being convicted at Oxford Crown Court in March 1997 of kidnapping, false imprisonment and blackmail, along with three others.
Judge Paul Clark jailed him for six years for his part in the violent kidnap.
The gang had demanded a £29,000 ransom from the terrified wife of the man, who was beaten before he was set free after Chen and his cohorts realised the police were involved.
Since the thug’s release from jail, Home Office officials have been in extensive talks with the Chinese authorities, who were “extremely reluctant to accept Chen’s return to China”.
However, following a series of immigration hearings, Upper Tribunal Judge Peter Lane said: “He has been out of detention for seven and a half years, forging the unusual but strong private life.”
He ruled Chen’s case was covered by Article 8 of the Human Rights Act – and so the Chinese citizen could stay in Britain.
He now lives at the Minsteracres Centre, a rural Christian retreat near the village of Slaley, Northumberland, where he went following his release from prison.
The website claims the centre “provides a space where people feel welcome, can be themselves and are enabled to find healing in their relationship with God”. Chen spends his days looking after 25 hens, working in a vegetable garden and helping with cleaning and washing duties.
Restrictions are placed on his movement and he regularly reports to local police.
He told an immigration hearing: “Since I came to Minsteracres, I have contributed to the life and work of the community.
"In 2005, I looked after two terminally ill members of the community. Minsteracres has given me a new life.”
The Home Office had claimed the court had “failed properly or at all to take into account the public interest in deporting foreign criminals”.
But it lost the battle in February.
Senior Labour MP Michael McCann fumed: “You couldn’t make this up.
"An illegal foreign national is convicted of a heinous crime and yet we cannot deport him.
“The Government must find a solution now.”
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