Headteacher widow "devastated" by deportation decision
Tuesday, 21 Aug 2007 13:25
Learco Chindamo could be released next year
The widow of murdered north London headteacher Philip Lawrence has said she is "utterly devastated" at a court decision not to deport his killer.
Yesterday Learco Chindamo won an appeal against the government's move to have him deported to Italy once his life sentence for Mr Lawrence's murder is completed.
The Home Office has itself said it will appeal against the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal decision, which came as a shock to Frances Lawrence when announced on Monday.
She told the Today programme: "I didn't anticipate that I would feel so utterly devastated as I felt.
"I think that's because what I'm feeling is not solely about the deportation issue because I do understand the stated reasons for that decision and I understand that within the confines of the law Mr Chindamo has the same rights as my son whose father he killed," she continued.
Italian national Chindamo, 26, could be released from prison next year after being given a life sentence for murdering Mr Lawrence outside St George's Catholic school in 1995.
His lawyers successfully claimed in court that deporting him to Italy would breach his human rights since he has lived in an EU country for a decade.
Chindamo, who was 15 when he was jailed for stabbing Mr Lawrence in 1996, was told of the court's decision this weekend and said he was "pleased" with the outcome.
He also expressed his "deepest sympathy" for the family of the headteacher, who was killed after intervening in a gang fight outside the Maida Vale school when a 13-year-old was attacked with an iron bar.
However Mrs Lawrence further explained her feelings this morning: "What I don't understand and what makes me so depressed is how the Human Rights Act, which I've always been a staunch advocate of and I believe was set up to be an exemplar to show how human beings should live together fairly and equally and kindly, has allowed someone who has destroyed a life to pick and choose how he lives his."
A Home Office spokeswoman admitted that the department was "disappointed" at yesterday's setback.
"We believe that foreign prisoners who have committed serious crimes should face automatic deportation from the UK at the end of their sentence," she said.