Home Office responds to judge’s illegal migrants deportation call

It comes following the incarceration of Nino Zhgenti, 37, and Nika Chanturia, 30, at Chester Crown Court on Monday.

The couple illegally entered the UK on a small boat across the English Channel claiming to be 'fleeing a vicious ex'.

After being accommodated at the three-star Fir Grove Hotel in Grappenhall, they were found with a ‘cocktail of illegal drugs’ and fake passports after a police search sparked by a strong smell of cannabis from their room.

Before jailing each for a year, judge Simon Berkson said: “In early February of this year, both defendants entered this country illegally.

“They were rescued by coastguards and made applications for asylum.

“There are an increasing number of tragic cases of those entering the UK illegally. The relevance of this in 2023 is even more than when the guidance was created.

“Many are duped out of money in an effort to enter the UK. This sort of behaviour needs to be stopped.”

Judge Berkson also said that, while the court does not decide on deportation, he did recommend they were deported by the Home Office after serving their full sentence.

The pair were jailed at Chester Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

The Warrington Guardian approached the Home Office for a response, asking if the pair would indeed be deported back to their native Georgia.

In response, a spokesman said: “Foreign national offenders who exploit our system and commit crimes here in the UK will face the full force of the law, including deportation at the earliest opportunity for those eligible.”

They added that the Home Office deals with ‘significant and complex challenges’ when seeking to return those who have no right to be in the UK to their country of origin or lawful place of return.

“These challenges can include travel documentation, late applications including modern slavery claims, late appeals and broader non-compliance with a lawful returns process,” they said.

“We only return those with no legal right to remain in the UK, including foreign national offenders.

“Individuals are only returned to their country of origin when the Home Office and, where applicable the courts, deem it is safe to do so.

“The Illegal Migration Bill will change the law so that people who come to the UK illegally can be detained and then swiftly returned to a safe third country, or their home country, so we can stop the boats.”

Zhgenti, and Nika Chanturia were convicted of possession of fake identity documents with intent, possession of criminal property and possession of cannabis, amphetamine, MDMA and heroin.

The court heard how when police were searching their hotel room, Zhgenti attempted to hide two fake Belgian passports behind her back, bith with the pair’s photos but different names.

The pair were being accommodated at Fir Grove Hotel in Grappenhall (Image: Warrington Guardian)

It was said that the two were a couple and had allegedly fled Georgia from Zhgenti’s criminal ex-husband.

After the two split and Zhgenti began dating Chanturia, her ex-husband assaulted him, putting him in hospital for three months and leaving scars on him that remain to this day, the court was told.

Upon his imminent release from prison, the ex-husband informed the pair he was ‘coming for them’, it was heard.

They sold their belongings and began a journey across Europe, travelling from Georgia to Vienna, before making their way to Calais in France.

The pair chose the UK to migrate to illegally due to their belief that the lack of an EU border would make it harder for her ex-husband to follow.

During their illegal channel crossing, their small boat was intercepted and they were moved to the Fir Grove. They began using drugs recreationally ‘at parties’.

Before sentinging, Judge Berkson noted that the pair had ‘no known convictions’, but stated the importance of setting an example to prevent people entering the UK illegally.

He concluded: “These warrant only a term of immediate imprisonment.”