An Algerian man who was jailed for spraying food with his own excrement in supermarkets still can't be deported - despite a £250,000 legal battle to kick him out of the country.

Chemist Sahnoun Daifallah, 50, was jailed for nine years at Bristol Crown Court in 2009 for contaminating food, wine and books at four businesses in May 2008.

Daifallah squirted a mixture of urine and faeces from a 1.5 litre weed killer container - concealed within a laptop bag - at the Air Balloon Pub in Birdlip, before moving on to a Waterstones bookshop in Cirencester.

Chemist Sahnoun Daifallah, 50, contaminated food, wine and books at four businesses in May 2008

Two days later, he targeted a Tesco store in Quedgley and a Morrisons in Abbeydale.

Damage to the businesses was estimated at £700,000.

A search of his house in Gloucester revealed further plans to contaminate businesses in Bristol and Birmingham.

He was also found to be in possession of an offensive weapon - a catapult with marbles.

Daifallah, who was granted refugee status two years after arriving in Britain in 1999, was told he would be deported in 2010 - but he has been in immigration custody since February 2013, The Sun reported.

Since then, there have been two judicial reviews. However it is not clear what his objections to deportation were.

He was jailed for nine years at Bristol Crown Court in 2009

According to the paper, those 54 months spent in immigration detention have cost the taxpayer a whopping £155,000.

Along with Daifallah's estimated legal bills of £100,000, that's a total of £250,000.

A Home Office spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'This government puts the rights of the British public before those of criminals, and foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.'

She added that a total of 6,171 foreign national offenders were deported between 2016 and 2017 - the highest number of removals ever.

Over 37,000 foreign national offenders have been removed since 2010.