An Albanian armed robber has won a court appeal to stay in the UK despite lying about his nationality to gain British citizenship.

Arsimi Murati, 46, successfully appealed an attempt by the Home Secretary to strip him of his citizenship. The Secretary of the Interior accused Murat of lying about his nationality and of having been convicted of an armed robbery in Albania.

A high court immigration judge said the Home Secretary had failed to prove Murat was aware of the conviction when he applied for leave to remain in the UK after he had been tried for the crime in absentia.

Murat also claimed that his deportation would be a violation of his right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ruling means Murat will be allowed to stay in the UK permanently.

However, the decision caused a strong reaction. "This shows why we need urgent reforms of the asylum system and human rights laws to allow the speedy and effective deportation of dangerous criminals," said a senior Tory MP.

Murat arrived in the UK in November 1999 to seek asylum as a Kosovar fleeing the civil war in his country. He was admitted as a citizen of the then federal republic of Yugoslavia and was granted indefinite leave to remain before naturalizing as a British citizen in November 2006.

In 2007, the Albanian government started extradition proceedings against him, because a year before his arrival in Great Britain, he had been convicted of armed robbery and sentenced in absentia to 11 and a half years in prison. He was extradited to Albania in 2009 to serve a prison sentence.

By then, he was married and had three children, but his wife died of cancer in October 2012, and his children were placed in the care of local authorities. After his release from prison in 2015, he returned to live in the UK and in September 2019 his children were returned to him.

However, a year later, the then Home Secretary Priti Patel attempted to strip him of his citizenship because he had obtained it through fraud, misrepresentation and concealment of a conviction.

In his appeal, Murat admitted that he had lied about being Kosovar, but maintained that he had not acquired British citizenship as a result of the false claim.

He also claimed that he was unaware of his trial for armed robbery in Albania and that he learned of his conviction when extradition proceedings began.

"He further submitted that as the sole carer for his children, it would be a disproportionate interference with his Article 8 family life [rights] to deprive him of British citizenship," court papers said. .

The court accepted his claims and rejected the Home Office's arguments. /tch