The Home Office allowed a convicted drug dealer to stay in the UK after wrongly accepting that he had legally lived in Britain for most of his life.
Olajiire Obafemi Shoyombo, a Nigerian national, was jailed for three years and four months in a young offenders' institution in 2023 after being convicted at Nottingham Crown Court of two offences involving the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.
In a recent Home Office hearing he argued he should be allowed to stay in the UK under the 'private life exception', which can apply to foreign nationals who have spent most of their life in Britain lawfully and would face 'very significant obstacles' if they returned to their home country.
His initial appeal on human rights grounds was allowed by a lower-tier tribunal but has since been referred back to them by the upper tribunal, which found the decision had been based on a 'mistake as to fact'.
Now the convicted drug dealer's deportation case will be reheard after the Home Office wrongly accepted he had been a lawful UK resident for most of his life.
