Human rights law 'making mugs of UK'

ECHR laws allow child rapist and a murder suspect to stay

- Michael Knowles and Jonathan Walker

KEMI Badenoch has said Britain is being “mugged” after two fugitives wanted for murder and child rape used human rights laws to stay in the country.

Marlon Martins Dos Santos and Nicolas Gomes De Brito argued successfully that deporting them would breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dos Santos fled to the UK after being sentenced in Brazil to 14 years in jail for repeatedly raping a five-year-old girl. De Brito, came here in 2019 after allegedly ordering the murder of a rival gang member.

They beat extradition to Brazil by claiming in British courts that it would violate their ECHR Article 3 rights — protection from torture and inhumane treatment.

Mrs Badenoch said yesterday: “We are being taken for mugs. Britain is being mugged by this. It’s absolutely shocking.

“We cannot be a safe haven for rapists and murderers because the prisons in their country are not nice. That’s not our job.

“I said that if we need to leave [the ECHR], we should leave.

“And I’ve also said that I’m increasingly coming to that view.

“This is yet another piece of evidence that shows that the ECHR and the way it’s being used by hostile actors, foreign criminals, is no longer fit for purpose.”