See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy OLIVIA CHRISTIE, NEWS REPORTER Published: 01:49 BST, 19 July 2026 | Updated: 01:49 BST, 19 July 2026
A convicted Albanian drug dealer who snuck back into Britain after being deported has been allowed to stay after a court ruled it would be 'harsh' on his wife if he was made to leave. Dardan Hoxhaj, 31, was jailed for three years and sent back to his home country in 2018 after he was found to be part of a £750,000 drug trafficking operation. But he returned to the UK only a month later. It is unclear how he managed to get back into the country. Hoxhaj has now won an appeal against his deportation on human rights grounds after a judge ruled his 'mentally unwell' partner needed his help to cope with motherhood. The tribunal at Field House in London heard that Hoxhaj's wife would suffer 'considerable issues' if she was forced to return to Albania with him. It was also argued that despite his drug-trafficking past, Hoxhaj plays a 'critical and irreplaceable role' in the family home. Court documents seen by the Daily Mail show Hoxhaj entered the UK illegally in 2017. He was subsequently convicted of four offences of conspiring to supply controlled drugs and being in possession of a false identity document. Pictured: A general view of Field House in London where the tribunal was heard in May After Hoxhaj returned to the UK, immigration authorities failed to detect him for almost three years until he applied to stay in the country under the EU Settlement Scheme as a dependent partner. It is believed this application was rejected, and in February 2023, he applied for the right to remain on human rights grounds. This was also refused by the Home Office but he successfully appealed the decision in May this year. Hoxhaj's barrister, named in the tribunal documents as S Karim, claimed it would be 'unduly harsh' for his partner, who is an Albanian citizen, to be forced to return to the country with him. He said she had been trafficked and suffered from 'complex PTSD, anxiety and depression' as a result.Paris Blake, a social worker, also submitted evidence claiming Hoxhaj 'plays a critical and irreplaceable role in maintaining the emotional and physical stability' of the family home. It was said Hoxhaj's partner had 'panic attacks' and would be unable to care for her son who has special health needs without his help. Hoxhaj's defence also claimed that he 'provides essential cooking and cleaning and time to rest for his mentally unwell partner'. In her judgment, Judge Fiona Lindsley agreed that the reasons put forward by the Albanian's legal team were 'lawfully sufficient' to allow him to remain in the UK. The judge concluded: 'It is also clear from the decision itself that issues both of emotional harm and physical harm, and not just emotional harm, are properly both considered when concluding that the stay scenario would be unduly harsh.'Examples are as follows: the claimant's partner is unable to cope with physically caring for their son without him as she has panic attacks when trying to address their son's asthma and giving him his asthma medication via a pump and the findings that the claimant provides essential cooking and cleaning and time to rest for his mentally unwell partner.'
