A convicted Somali paedophile has been awarded £109,000 damages because he was wrongly locked up for 20 months – even though a judge admitted he's not 'worthy or likeable'.

The 41-year-old refugee, only identified as AXD, is still serving a 21-month sentence for sexually assaulting a child after it was imposed in February 2015.

AXD, who arrived in the UK in 1997 and has also served a 16-month sentence for unlawful wounding after slashing his victim’s face with a broken mirror, brought an unlawful immigration detention claim against the Home Office.

A convicted Somali paedophile has been awarded £109,000 damages because he was wrongly locked up for 20 months – even though a judge at the High Court in London (pictured) admitted he's not 'worthy or likeable'

At London’s High Court in May, Mr Justice Jay ruled that AXD, who is probably schizophrenic, was unlawfully detained for 20 months and five days from April 1 2013 to December 5 2014.

He said that AXD, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 'not a particularly worthy, likeable or sympathetic individual'.

The judge added: 'Another way of looking at this case, however, is to point out that the claimant is vulnerable, that he probably suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and that only those obligated to an adherence to the rule of law would be likely to vindicate his rights.

'This alternative viewpoint is based not on any subjective preferences but on the loyal discharge of the judicial function.'

At London’s High Court, Mr Justice Jay (pictured) ruled that AXD, who is probably schizophrenic, was unlawfully detained for 20 months and five days from April 1 2013 to December 5 2014

AXD was detained on August 27, 2009 following the completion of his unlawful wounding sentence and his detention up to May 17, 2011 was not unlawful, said the judge.

He was re-detained on November 27, 2011 after completing another custodial sentence and was unconditionally released on December 5, 2014 before being granted refugee status in August 2015.

While detained, AXD argued that if he was deported he would face persecution on account of his sexual orientation and his conversion from Islam to Christianity. Concerns were also raised about his mental health.

The judge said that AXD had been detained far too long in circumstances where he was not obviously 'playing the system' and his deportation to Somalia could best be described as speculative.

The risk to the public, and of absconding, was not so great that continued incarceration was the only real option.

'In my judgment, the claimant’s case cried out to be grabbed by the metaphorical scruff of the neck, and clear and firm decisions made,' the judge said.

'It is simply not acceptable that the claimant was detained for so long, in such circumstances.”