Abu Qatada cleared but cannot return to UK

Qatada was finally deported from Britain last year

Abu Qatada was deported from Britain after a near-decade-long legal battle (Reuters)

Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan, the Home Secretary has said.

Qatada, deported from Britain after a near-decade-long legal battle to remove him, was cleared at a military court of planning to target Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats in 2000 in the so-called “Millennium plot”.

The 53-year-old, who was previously acquitted in June of charges relating to a foiled plan to attack an American school in Amman in 1999, has been released from prison.

But ministers moved fast to say that he would not return to Britain. Theresa May, who headed Government efforts to remove Qatada from the UK, said: “The due process of law has taken place in Jordan. That is absolutely as it should be.

“The UK courts here were very clear that Abu Qatada poses a threat to our national security. That’s why we were pleased as a Government to remove him from the UK.

“He is subject to a deportation order [and] a UN travel ban. That means he will not be returning to the UK.”