The UK Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, has said that a Nigerian convicted of rape, Gift Oladele, and other migrants sentenced for rape and other criminal acts should be deported from the United Kingdom after serving out their jail terms.

Mr Philp made this call in a plenary during debate on “Illegal Migration” on Monday, citing Mr Oladele’s case as an example of a criminal allowed to stay in the UK. 

“Nigerian illegal immigrant Gift Oladele was recently jailed for the brutal rape of a teenage girl. He dragged her into isolated woods, leaving her terrified, and she now has recurrent nightmares,” Mr Philp said.

The UK Shadow Home Secretary dismissed human rights argument favouring those convicted of crimes to remain in the UK.

“Oladele had committed previous violent sexual offences, and the Home Office rightly tried to deport him, yet an immigration judge allowed him to stay because of Oladele’s human rights, and he went on to violently rape the teenage girl,” Mr Philp said.

He added, “I believe the rights of women and girls to be protected are more important than the supposed human rights of foreign rapists to stay here. Is it not time to leave the European convention on human rights, so that all criminals such as Oladele can be deported?”

Another UK member of parliament, Alex Norris, spoke after Mr Philp’s contribution, said about 8,000 migrant offenders had been removed from the UK since the Labour Party took over leadership of the country.

“Let me start by saying that I agree that, that is a truly awful case. It shows how important it is that we remove people who commit crimes, and we have removed nearly 8,000 foreign offenders since we came into office,” Mr Norris said.

He added, “But the right Hon. Gentleman’s prescription does not match up to a solution: leaving the ECHR would undermine our return agreements with countries around the world. Instead, our contention is that we can improve it.”

Mr Oladele, 24, a UK-based Nigerian national was sentenced to 25 years jail term in April at the Caernarfon Crown Court for the violent rape of a 19-year-old woman in Wrexham, Wales.