A killer has complained from a UK jail that he will be deported to Nigeria, though he has never been to Africa.
Junior Bayode was 16 when he took part in the mob stabbing of Sofyen Belamouadden , 15, and was given 11 years for manslaughter in 2013.
Bayode, now 22, slammed jail chiefs over the decision to deport him when he is due to be freed in 2019.
His mother is from Nigeria but he was born in Germany and came to the UK aged nine months.
He wrote to prisoners’ paper Inside Time from Moorland jail in Doncaster that he is “struggling to understand” why he is being deported. He added: “I may not have been born here but all I know is the British way of life”.
Belamouadden was chased by a gang of around 20 youths from a rival school and stabbed nine times in just 12 seconds in front of shocked commuters in Victoria Underground Station in central London in the attack on March 25, 2010.
Five trials took place at the Old Bailey with 17 convictions resulting.
Three of the attackers – Obi Nwokeh, Christopher Omoregie and Samson Odegbune – who were aged between 19 and 20 at the time of their sentencing in April 2013 – were jailed for life after being found guilty of murder.
Bayode, of Streatham, South London – who was just 16 when the attack took place – was found guilty of manslaughter and was caged for 11 years in July 2013.
Faced with the prospect of spending the rest of his sentence in one of Nigeria’s notoriously filthy and crammed prisons, the killer said the Home Office’s “deport first, appeal later” policy was designed to hit migration targets “regardless of human rights”.
He wrote: “I was born in Germany on the 29th of January 1993 and came to the UK with my mother as an infant when I was 9 months old.
“I have neither travelled nor been to any other country since I arrived in the UK over 20 years ago.
“My past, my present and my future is firmly rooted in British soil, hence why I am struggling to understand why I have been served with a
deportation order to a country I have never been to – Nigeria.
“I concede that this is where my mother is from but she has lived in the UK since 1993.
“The Home Office have disregarded everything about me; from my childhood to the relationship I have with my partner of 4 years, to the bonds between myself, my mother and siblings, and all for what?
“To achieve a target? I understand that the Home Office must consider many factors when they make such decisions, but it appears they only, misconstrue and even invent factors that work in favour of their pursuit, to reduce net migration at any cost, regardless of the devastation they cause and the human rights they breach.
“I was distraught when I read on the order that I can only appeal after my deportation.
“I may not have been born here but all I know is the British way of life.”
Judge Christopher Moss QC told Bayode during his trial in 2013: “You joined the group of killers, you set upon Sofyen as he lay helpless and defenceless on the floor of the ticket hall.
“The killing of Sofyen Belamouadden took place in dreadful circumstances in a public place. You played your part in the death and you stand convicted of his manslaughter.”
