A paedophile who groomed and continually raped a seven-year-old boy has been stripped of his British citizenship and faces deportation to India.
The man, who can only be identified as RSD, moved to the UK from India in 1997 and was granted citizenship in 2004.
But in 2011 he was convicted of 23 counts of sexual abuse of "a male within the family" for offences between 2003 and 2010. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison and was put on the sex offenders' register for life.
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But in the first case of its kind, the UK Home Secretary decided to take things further and remove his citizenship because he had lied about the fact he was sexually abusing a child when he applied to be a UK citizen.
"Given the fact that you began your sexual offences in 2003, prior to lodging your naturalisation application, and continued to do so many years after you were granted British citizenship, you were clearly not of good character," former Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.
"It was only because you concealed your sexual assaults that led (sic) to your application succeeding."
RSD appealed the decision, but a senior judge has ruled against the appeal and upheld the decision to strip him of his passport.
"It is my conclusion that the appellant obtained naturalisation in 2004 by deliberately concealing material facts," said Judge Pitt, of the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
The ruling has been praised by child abuse lawyers, who say it's a sign of how serious the grooming was viewed by the courts.
"Any court decision which highlights and reinforces the penalties for this kind of [behaviour] will help to send out the message that perpetrators will face serious consequences," legal expert Richard Scorer told The Telegraph.
Newshub.
