Sex offender to stay in UK

A JUDGE is to block the deportation of a Ugandan national who has Aids and was recently released from prison after serving a sentence for indecently assaulting a young girl.

Mr Justice Sullivan announced his intention at the High Court in London yesterday after hearing submissions on behalf of 45-year-old "M", who cannot be named for legal reasons, that his life would be cut short if he was sent home.

The judge said he would give his full judgment on Friday.

Mark Henderson, appearing for M, said he had been diagnosed as having Aids, with a life-expectancy prognosis of two to three years if he remained under medical supervision in the UK, but only months if sent back to Uganda.

"It is accepted by [the Home Secretary] that if he expels my client ... it will cause his death within months," he said.

M first entered the UK with permission to stay for six months in October 1990. He made a failed attempt to claim asylum on the basis that, as he was HIV positive, he was a member of a social group threatened with persecution.

In July 1997, he was convicted at Kingston Crown Court of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to two years' imprisonment with a recommendation that he be deported on his release.