A cannabis farmer jailed for more than three years has avoided deportation after judges ruled doing so would deprive his daughter of a “male role model”
Albanian national Xhoni Leka arrived in the UK in 2013 and was repeatedly refused residency before being caught in possession of class B drugs with intent to supply in 2020.
He was sentenced to 40 months in jail in September of the same year after being caught by police with his accomplice Gjergji Braculla running a cannabis farm packed with 1,300 plants in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
Leka was set to be deported but successfully appealed against the order by claiming it would breach his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects an individual’s right to a family life.
Upper tribunal judges ruled it would be “unduly harsh” on his four-year-old daughter as it would leave her without a male role model, an immigration tribunal heard.
Judges Fiona Lindsley and Mark Symes found Leka had a “particularly close relationship” with his daughter and was “central” to providing her with a loving home.
The judges also concluded that Leka’s wife, a Czech national, would struggle to live in Albania as she did not speak the language and would lack family members to assist with integration in the Balkan country.
However, the tribunal did hear the argument that life in Albania “would not be severe or bleak”.
It comes after a Jamaican drug dealer avoided deportation under ECHR laws after he promised to only smoke cannabis and not sell it.
Shawn Rickford McLeod, 40, came to Britain in 2000 and was issued with a deportation order after being jailed for three years and four months for three counts of supplying class A drugs.
He also appealed against the decision on the grounds that it would breach his rights to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as he had three young children in the UK with his wife.
Hearing the appeal, Judge David Chaim Brannan ruled that deportation would be “unduly harsh” and accepted McLeod “genuinely wants to avoid reoffending (except for cannabis use) so he can care for his children”.
The Home Office challenged the decision in the upper tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, with a different judge, Karim-ullah Akbar Khan, finding there had been a “material error of law” applied - with the case set to be reheard this year.
“I find there is a material error of law as a result of the judge's inadequate and confused reasoning. The judge was well aware, that the appellant intended to continue to use cannabis,” the Judge Khan said.
