A Romanian man who has been deported from the UK five times in seven years was found working in Beeston.
Nicu Marin also wanted to marry a woman he had met after illegally entering the UK in August last year - despite having last been removed in November 2019.
Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Marin, 44, had already breached the deportation order put in in 2015 five times. Prosecutor, Bashir Ahmed, said: "On the 30th October 2015 he was deported from the UK. He was back in the UK on 31st October 2016 and a shoplifting offence highlighted his existence in the UK.
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"On 26th November 2016 he was deported from the UK back to Romania and not long after on 13th December 2016 via Holyhead he was back in the UK and in breach of the order. On 21st December 2016 he was again deported back to Romania. He came back in February 2017 and he was then removed again in March 2017. On 27th February 2018 he was back in the UK and removed on 6th April 2018."
Marin was found living at an address in Chapeltown, Leeds and he was made the subject of a suspended sentence for 18 months. He was again deported in November 2019.
Mr Ahmed said: "On 7th November 2022, the UK Border Authorities were given notice of his intention to marry a woman. From that occasion he made a claim for EU settlement. On 7th November 2022 he was arrested from an address in Beeston. He accepted entering the UK in breach of the order. He states that on that occasion he entered in August 2022 via the port of Dover.
"Since 2015 the defendant has made a concerted effort and has been successful in getting entry to the UK. He has entered via various ports and has used northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on occasion."
The court heard Marin has previous convictions for offences such as theft and fraud. It was also told that there had been an application for him to be extradited to France for questioning in relation to a series of robberies. His Honour Judge Simon Batiste said it was not clear what stage the application was at.
Mitigating, Andrew Petterson, said Marin's "sole motivation" for entering the UK was to provide for his five children living with his 75-year-old mother in Romania. He said: "The defendant did not offend at least during this period it would appear and obtained some form of employment."
The judge told Mr Petterson: "That in itself could be a criminal offence as he had no right to be here."
He jailed Marin for 27 months, less the time spent on remand for breaching the deportation order and told him he would serve half of that sentence in custody. He said he anticipated Marin would be removed from the UK after that time.
Judge Batiste said: "The offence is a new offence and only came into force on 28th June last year. Your immigration record is appalling. On the last occasion when you were sentenced you were sentenced under old legislation and received a suspended prison sentence and you were again deported. The culpability for this offending is clearly at the higher level. It is clear you carefully planned to come to the UK in the full knowledge you were not allowed to come to this country. It must have involved careful deception to enable you to gain entry.
"This is significantly aggravated by your record - both your criminal and immigration record. The offence is designed to protect society from people such as you who are criminals from other countries. Britain has no need from criminals such as you coming into this country. Sadly, we have plenty of home grown criminals and as such it is necessary that a deterrent sentence is imposed for offences of this type."
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