Appeal over Lancashire death driver deportation fails

A legal attempt to stop an asylum-seeker who left a girl dying under a car from staying in the UK has failed.

Iraqi Kurd Aso Mohammed Ibrahim knocked down Amy Houston in Blackburn in 2003. He was jailed but was allowed to stay in the UK as he has children here.

Two senior immigration judges rejected a final appeal by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to have him deported last year.

The agency asked for leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal, but has now been told that has been refused.

The Home Office said a further legal hearing would take place in a bid to resolve the matter.

A spokesman said: "We will appeal this decision at an oral hearing.

"Mr Ibrahim was convicted of committing an offence that led to the tragic death of a 12-year-old child. It remains our view that he should be removed from the UK."

Father 'angry'

Ibrahim was convicted of driving while disqualified and failing to stop after the accident. He also had previous convictions.

He and his wife had two children after his release from prison, and because of this immigration judges decided it would breach his human rights to deport him back to Iraq.

Ibrahim was jailed for four months after the crash in 2003

Amy's father Paul, 41, from Darwen in Lancashire, has conducted a seven-year legal battle to have him deported.

He said: "I am bitterly disappointed and I am really angry.

"I felt that the judges would have at least given me an opportunity to put my viewpoint in court and allow me to express my opinion on my human rights and my daughters human rights.

"I feel that somehow they are trying to brush it under the carpet and hope that I'm going to go away.

"That somebody can come into this country and commit these crimes and then be handed a British passport - in effect he's being rewarded."

The prime minister has previously expressed his anger at the case, saying Iraq should not be seen as a country to which it was too dangerous to deport people.

Earlier last year David Cameron wrote to Paul Houston promising reforms that would ensure "that rights are better balanced against responsibilities".