{UAH} The baby-smuggling phony 'Archbishop of Peckham' who passed off Aldi olive oil as a miracle cancer cure will finally be deported after judge slams 'scandalous' TEN-YEAR fight against crazy human rights laws
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The baby-smuggling phony 'Archbishop of Peckham' who passed off Aldi olive oil as a miracle cancer cure will finally be deported after judge slams 'scandalous' TEN-YEAR fight against crazy human rights laws
- Gilbert Deya, 65, has avoided extradition to East Africa several times
- He allegedly stole five children but used human rights laws to beat the courts
- Deya claimed he could face the death sentence or be 'tortured' in Kenyan prison
- High Court judge Lord Justice Gross called the situation 'scandalous'
The decade-long human rights battle to extradite a man calling himself the 'Archbishop of Peckham' to Kenya was described as 'scandalous' by a judge yesterday.
Gilbert Deya, 65, has been on the brink of being sent back to East Africa several times to stand trial for allegedly stealing five children.
But aided by human rights laws, the Kenyan self-proclaimed 'miracle worker' has repeatedly come up with new ways to prevent his return.
These have included claims that he could face the death sentence, allegations that inmates are tortured in Kenyan prisons, and a host of other arguments that have ground the extradition process almost to a halt. All have been rejected by the courts.
Gilbert Deya, 65, has been on the brink of being sent back to East Africa several times to stand trial for allegedly stealing five children but used human rights laws to beat the courts
At one stage, former chief inspector of prisons, Lord Ramsbotham was asked by Theresa May, the then home secretary, to examine conditions at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Kenya where Deya would be held on remand.
After flying 4,500 miles to East Africa in 2013, the peer found nothing wrong.
Yesterday, however, Deya's delayed extradition prompted an extraordinary outburst from one of the judges involved in the latest hearing at the High Court in London.
In a single paragraph comment at the end of a 7,000-word ruling by fellow judge Sir Kenneth Parker, Lord Justice Gross called on the SSHD, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to get a firm grip on such cases and pledged the assistance of the court.
He said: 'The delay in this matter is truly alarming. The claimant was initially arrested in December 2006.
'It is little short of scandalous that the proceedings have taken until now to resolve. It is essential that cases such as this are firmly "gripped" by the SSHD to guard against incremental and massive slippage of this nature.
'The Court will be more than willing to play its part.'
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In all, Deya's marathon extradition case has been overseen by five home secretaries – Labour's John Reid, Jacqui Smith and Alan Johnson, along with the Tories' Theresa May and Amber Rudd.
Deya has claimed he would be 'subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by reason of the prison conditions in which he would be detained whilst on remand and, if convicted, after sentence'. In particular he objected to conditions at Kamiti.
However, the High Court in London said the prison was one of the best in Kenya. In an extraordinary move, Mrs May sent Lord Ramsbotham to Kenya to investigate conditions following a string of claims of abuse and torture made by Deya's lawyers.
In November 2013, the peer reported from the high security wing of the Nairobi prison.
He said: 'The atmosphere in this compound was very relaxed, and, amongst others, I spoke with an elderly American bishop, who had been imprisoned there for a year and was still awaiting trial.
'He told me that he had no complaints, was able to see his lawyer, received visits from the American embassy, and felt safe and secure.
He said Deya's only problem if held there would be a 'lack of access to work', although he 'would have access to education'.
Deya, centre, calls himself a 'miracle worker' and even met the Queen and Prince Philip in 2002 during her Golden Jubilee, pictured
Lord Ramsbotham added: 'I can see no reason why Mr Deya should not be extradited, as soon as possible, to stand trial.'
Deya runs the Gilbert Deya Ministries, which is said to have a British membership of 36,000 and several churches in the UK, and claims he can give infertile couples 'miracle babies'.
The website of the Gilbert Deya Ministries shows him wearing a suit as he meets the Queen and Prince Philip, although no details are given of the reason why he was being introduced to them, or when the meeting took place.
Last year, it emerged that Deya was selling £1.99 bottles of olive oil from Aldi, passing it off as a miracle cure for cancer and HIV.
He claimed the 'power of God' helped to give the oil 'magical properties'.
He is wanted in Kenya after being accused of involvement in a baby-smuggling operation at Pumwani Maternity Hospital in a Nairobi slum.
Prosecutors claim he was planning to use stolen babies to trick desperate infertile women who had paid him thousands of pounds into thinking they had given birth to 'miracle' children.
More than 50 women in Kenyan slums have claimed their own babies were stolen.
The former security guard denies the allegations and claims he is the victim of a political vendetta.
The latest court proceedings were heard at the High Court where Edward Fitzgerald QC, instructed by the human rights law firm Birnberg Peirce, acted on behalf of Deya.
Mr Fitzgerald argued that there was evidence to show the Kenyan authorities were not acting in good faith by continuing to press for extradition and that there was a real risk that prison conditions in Kenya would infringe Deya's human rights.
TIMELINE OF A WANTED MAN...
DECEMBER 2006: Deya arrested in UK over theft of children under Kenyan international arrest warrant.
NOVEMBER 2007: Judge rejects claim that his human rights would be breached if he was sent to Kenya.
DECEMBER 2007: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith orders extradition, rejecting fears of execution.
Deya, pictured, calls himself the 'Archbishop of Peckham
OCTOBER 2008: High Court dismisses claim that his human rights would be breached and he faced punishment for political views.
DECEMBER 2008: Deya claims guards beat inmates at Kamiti prison in Nairobi, where he is to be sent.
AUGUST 2009: Home Secretary Alan Johnson upholds extradition and declines to investigate jail conditions.
OCTOBER 2009: Deya says he has anonymous statements from guards at Kamiti contradicting information from Kenyan authorities.
JUNE 2011: The affidavits are forgeries, Kenya says.
SEPTEMBER 2011: Home Secretary Theresa May upholds extradition order.
NOVEMBER 2013: Lord Ramsbotham visits Kamiti and declares it satisfactory.
OCTOBER 2015: Mrs May backs extradition.
2016: Deya gives High Court 'a certified copy' of a Kenyan order halting the case against him and arrest warrant. But it is unsigned and Kenya declares it a fake.
But Sir Kenneth Parker dismissed those claims yesterday and refused permission for a judicial review.
The Charity Commission has launched an investigation into Gilbert Deya Ministries, which accounts show banked £865,620 in donations in 2014 and has another £1million in savings and £2million in properties.
Last night, a Home Office spokesman said: 'Arrangements are now being made for Deya's extradition.
'The Government has acted to ensure that people challenging extradition are no longer able to abuse the system by endlessly raising last-minute, specious human-rights points which can then be subject to judicial reviews.'
However, it was still unclear last night when he will be sent back to Kenya.
Explaining the delays in the case, sources said Deya had made representations to the previous home secretary, Theresa May, which she was 'obliged' to consider under the Human Rights Act.
The law has now been amended so that people challenging extradition may no longer make representations to the Home Secretary on human rights grounds. Instead they must be made to the courts.
Deya, who lives in south London, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
A request for a statement was not answered, while a 'pastor' at a branch of the Gilbert Deya Ministries in Sutton, Surrey, said Deya was at a 'mission' in Manchester and did not have a mobile phone with him.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4698244/Judge-s-fury-human-rights-laws-stopping-extradition.html#ixzz4mzza6JcM
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