- Radical cleric's wife and five children will join him in Jordan, tribunal hears
- His lawyer says Qatata is unhappy £1,400 a month home lacks storage
- Promised to leave Britain 'voluntarily' as long as human rights are protected
- Qatada was denied bail today, and he will stay at Belmarsh Prison
- Judge says police found USB stick with 'significant jihadist material' on it
Radical cleric Abu Qatada's family will leave Britain with him if he returns to Jordan because the taxpayer-funded home they moved into last Christmas is too small, a tribunal heard today.
The hate preacher will take his wife and five children to the Middle East, his lawyer said, weeks after he pledged to leave the UK 'voluntarily' as long as his human rights are protected.
Qatada has said he will leave Britain when a treaty is ratified which will ensure him a safe trial after more than a decade of attempts to deport him.
The 53-year-old, who is currently in Belmarsh Prison, lives in North London with his family on state handouts said to total £1,400 a month, with the failure to kick him out if Britain already costing taxpayers more than £3million, including £500,000 on surveillance.
Breakthrough: Abu Qatada, pictured leaving his old house, says the home the taxpayer has rented for him in North London (left) since December, which cannot be fully shown for legal reasons, is too small
Today his lawyer told a hearing of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission that the terror suspect - real name Mohammed Othman - expects to be acquitted when he stands trial on terror charges and argued for him to be released on bail. But the bail application failed.
Danny Friedman told the court the charges against his client on involvement in a bomb plot were 'tainted'.
He also said the family were unhappy about the size of the house they had been placed in by the Home Office.
The taxpayer-funded residence does not have enough storage space for all the family's possessions, he said.
It is understood there is no legal basis for forcibly removing his family as two of the children were born in Britain.
Couple: Abu Qatada shopping with his wife near his home five years ago. His lawyer said today she and his five children will leave Britain with him should he go
Qatada's lawyer said this morning he should be released on bail to give him 'a period of time with that family in which he and they can prepare to leave the country'.
Butr immigration judge Mr Justice Irwin refused to grant him bail and said: 'We regard these breaches as serious. It was the appellant’s obligation to understand the conditions of bail and ensure they were adhered to.
'A serious matter relating to the breaches of bail was revealed during the hearing.
'In his witness statement, the appellant assured the Commission that nothing would be found on any of these items other than schoolwork or other innocent material.
'This assurance has proved untrue. Significant jihadist material has been found on a USB stick seized.'
The Home Office released this image of Home Secretary Theresa May signing the fair trial guarantees with Jordan that she believes will reassure courts that torture evidence would not be used against Abu Qatada
Mr Justice Irwin continued: 'There is no doubt about the national security threat which the appellant presents.
'The essence of that is promulgation of his views in support of violence, and the potential effect on others of that promulgation.'
Mr Justice Irwin went on: 'This appellant has in the past fled in order to avoid a court order, equipping himself with a false passport.
'He is highly intelligent, has a range of sympathetic and supportive contacts, and his risk to national security is undiminished.
'We reject the submission that he can, even now, be relied on to comply with his legal obligations and not to attempt to abscond.'
Still smiling: Labour and Conservative ministers have been trying to deport Qatada for a decade but have failed
The 53-year-old has long demanded to be moved to bigger houses funded by the public purse on the grounds he needs more space for his wife and children.
But local residents in North London have said they were disgusted by Qatada’s claims. One mother of two, who did not want to be named, said when he last moved: ‘Do you have to be a terrorist now to get a bigger house? He already has five bedrooms.’
Mr Friedman told Mr Justice Irwin at the central London hearing that Qatada would not pose a risk of absconding from bail and should be let out of Belmarsh.
KEY EVENTS IN ABU QATADA'S BATTLE AGAINST DEPORTATION
September 16 1993 - The Jordanian father of five claims asylum when he arrives in Britain on a forged passport.
May 1998 - He applies for indefinite leave to remain in Britain.
April 1999 - He is convicted in his absence on terror charges in Jordan and sentenced to life imprisonment.
February 2001 - Arrested by police over involvement in a plot to bomb Strasbourg Christmas market. Officers find him with £170,000 in cash, including an envelope marked 'For the mujahedin in Chechnya'.
August 2005 - The preacher is arrested under immigration rules as the Government seeks to deport him to Jordan.
April 2008 - The Court of Appeal rules that deporting him would breach his human rights because evidence used against him in Jordan may have been obtained through torture.
February 18 2009 - In a landmark judgment, five Law Lords unanimously back the Government's policy of removing terror suspects from Britain on the basis of assurances from foreign governments. It is ruled he can be deported to Jordan to face terror charges.
April 18 2012 - Abu Qatada lodges an appeal - potentially delaying his deportation by months.
April 18 2012 - Abu Qatada lodges an appeal - potentially delaying his deportation by months.
March 6 2013 - He is returned to jail over fears the terror suspect was trying to communicate with associates, in breach of bail conditions.
March 27 2013 - Court of Appeal admits hate preacher is 'very dangerous' but rules sending him to face a terror trial in Jordan would not be fair.
April 17 2013 - Home Office says it will take its battle to the Supreme Court.
April 17 2013 - Home Office says it will take its battle to the Supreme Court.
April 23 2013 - Court of Appeal rejects government request to appeal.
Qatada was put back in prison in March over breaches of his strict bail conditions.
He has pledged to leave Britain voluntarily despite winning rulings from British and the European Court of Human Rights that he could not be deported to his home country.
His change of heart follows the signing of a treaty between the UK and Jordan which will ensure evidence from torture cannot be used against him at trial.
The agreement is yet to be ratified by the Jordanian Parliament.
The Government has been trying to deport Qatada for nearly a decade. He was con
victed of terror charges in his absence in 1999.
His bail conditions prevent him from turning mobile phones on at his taxpayer-funded home in London.
A total of 17 mobile phones, three USB sticks, one SD card, five digital media devices and 55 recordable CDs or DVDs were found at the property.
Qatada is also being investigated by Scotland Yard over suspected extremist material found during the search of his home.
He was once described by a Spanish judge as 'Osama bin Laden's right hand man in Europe'.
The breakthrough is a victory for Theresa May, who announced last month that she had thrashed out a mutual assistance treaty with Jordan, guaranteeing Qatada the right to a fair trial.
Human rights judges in Britain and Strasbourg had halted his removal to Jordan on the grounds some of the evidence used against him may have been obtained by torture. Mr Fitzgerald said Mrs May’s treaty had been the key development in the case.
His lawyer said last month: ‘In light of that treaty I’m authorised to say that if, and when, the Jordanian parliament ratifies the treaty he will voluntarily return to Jordan.’
The new treaty is expected to be ratified in the UK next month and a Jordanian minister has suggested it could be cleared in his country within a matter of months.
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