Violent Bosnian criminal who successfully used human rights claim to avoid deportation carried out string of assaults on woman while his case was being heard

Bosnian Sanel Sahbaz allowed to stay in Britain last August because his human rights would be violated if he were to return to his home country

But a court has heard he was assaulting a woman at the time of case

His criminal record dates back to 2001 with eight convictions for 28 offences

Sahbaz arrived in Britain as 11-year-old dependent of refugee father in 1993





Bosnian Sanel Sahbaz has been allowed to stay in Britain despite a string of convictions because his human rights would be violated if he were to return to his home country

A foreign criminal who used human rights laws to stay in Britain carried out a string of assaults on a woman while his deportation case was being considered, a court has heard.

A hearing last August ruled that Bosnian Sanel Sahbaz could stay in Britain because his human rights would be violated if he were to return to his home country.

But St Albans Crown Court has since heard that at that time, and then after his court victory, he was subjecting a woman in her 20s to assaults, false imprisonment and was making threats to kill her.

Last month a jury at St Albans crown court found Sahbaz, 31, of Hertford, not guilty of raping the woman in a hotel room in Stevenage, between May 16 and May 21 2013.

But the nine men and three women were unaware of his violent past or the fact that he had admitted offences of making threats to kill, false imprisonment, actual bodily harm and common assault against his latest victim carried out between July and October last year.

On Friday Judge Marie Catterson said that she considered him a dangerous offender who posed a significant risk of harm to members of the public by violent offending.



She jailed him for four years with an extended sentence of five years, which means he will be supervised by probation officers on his release if he remains in this country.

She was told by prosecutor Will Noble that he has been served with a second deportation notice. The judge told Sahbaz: 'It is a matter for the authorities if you are deported.'

But she said it was her understanding that it was usually the case if sentences of 12 months or longer were passed.

Sahbaz arrived in Britain as an 11-year-old dependent of his refugee father in 1993.

St Albans Crown Court has heard that at that time of his deportation trial, and then after his court victory, he was subjecting a woman in her 20s to assaults, false imprisonment and was making threats to kill her

He has a criminal record which goes back to 2001 and eight convictions for 28 offences - including theft, fraud, assault, damaging property, disorderly behaviour, racially abusive insulting words, failing to surrender, assaulting a constable.

On 18 June 2009 he was jailed for a total of 4 years with a year's extension to his licence for causing actual bodily harm between 17 to 18 January 2009. Prosecutor Wayne Cleaver said at the previous hearing: 'The victim of the actual bodily harm was his landlord.



'He had intervened in a dispute between the defendant and his then girlfriend. He was punched to he ground and kicked unconscious.'



He received concurrent sentences of 15 months for GBH on 27 June 2008 and affray on 9 June 2008. He was on licence from jail at the time he attacked the woman.

Sahbaz faced automatic deportation after receiving the 4 year sentence, but was told he could stay indefinitely after he brought a legal challenge under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to private and family life.

His barrister John Marchant said Sahbaz took 'full responsibility for his actions for which he apologises.'