An Indian national, identified only as AB, has won an appeal against deportation from the UK despite being jailed for robberies targeting two vulnerable women, including a grandmother at a bus stop. An Upper Tribunal judge ruled that removing him would be “unduly harsh” for his British wife and their two children, giving priority to the family’s circumstances despite recognising a strong public interest in deporting serious offenders.

AB, 30, received concurrent five-year prison sentences for the 2019 robberies, after a previous suspended sentence for assault. The tribunal heard that his wife has inflammatory arthritis and mental health difficulties, and that both families had made alleged honour-based threats after their marriage and his conversion to Islam; the judge concluded it would be unsafe for the family to relocate to India. AB came to Britain as a child, later overstayed a visa, married in 2017 and appealed the deportation order on human-rights grounds.