Cage fighter Adrian Preda was sentenced to nine years and six months in Romania

A convicted criminal who fled to the UK after being jailed for attempted murder in Romania has been told he is free to stay.

Cage fighter Adrian Preda was sentenced to nine years and six months behind bars for attempted murder, blackmail and organised crime.

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However he fled the country and snuck into Britain.

After being caught, the 36-year-old was pulled up in front of a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.


A decision was then made against extraditing him back to Romania, as ‘overcrowded’ jails there may ‘breach his human rights’, according to MailOnline.

After being caught, the 36-year-old was pulled up in front of a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London. (Picture: PA)

Speaking to the criminal in court this week, district judge Robin McPhee said: ‘You are free to go’.



He later reportedly allowed Preda to charge taxpayers £56 for parking outside the court.

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Tory MP Tim Loughton, a member of the home affairs select committee, said: ‘This judgment beggars belief and makes our courts the laughing stock of Europe.

‘How on earth can it be right that a convicted attempted murderer, who’s absconded from Romania, is now completely free to roam the streets of the UK based on a judge’s concern about the lack of cushiness of Romanian jails?’

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: ‘This makes a mockery of the EU and our own judicial system. It also sets a very dangerous precedent because any similar characters from Romania will be using this and it will open the door to every criminal who will want to come here if they know they can just walk free. It’s absolutely outrageous.’

Preda fled to the UK in 2016 after he and 28 others were convicted in Bucharest.

He was found guilty of attempting to murder rivals with knives and swords, as well as threatening to order the murder of a man he had give a loan to.

Outside court on Tuesday, Preda’s lawyer was heard saying he had been ‘very lucky’.