KALO: SYRIAN ILLEGAL ‘IS NOT SPONGING’

An illegal immigrant who used a bogus ID to enter the UK so he could take advantage of our legal system to claim asylum was spared jail today (TUES).

Faozi Kalo, a 33 year-old refrigeration engineer from Syria, told police he came to England because he believed it was a ‘fair and honest’ country.

He had spent the previous 14 years working in Greece but was forced to leave because of the economic crisis and growing hostility towards foreigners.

Kalo paid for a bogus Greek identity card so he would be able to enter the UK without being stopped at the border.

Almost immediately after his arrival on October 31, 2012, he handed himself to police at Bishopsgate station.

His barrister Laurence Kench told the court: ‘His visa was not renewed and he had become an overstayer in Greece. With the economy so bad his presence became unwelcome and he was effectively made homeless.

‘The UK is perceived by him, as by many others, as being where people are dealt with fairly and honestly and if they are prepared to work hard they will be offered the opportunity to do so.’

Judge Charles Wide QC said: ‘What he has done is to use false documentation to come here to take advantage of the British taxpayer.’

Mr Kench continued: ‘He was not coming here to sponge and have his family supported. He is perfectly capable of working.’

The judge sentence Kalo to six months imprisonment suspended for 12 months.

Judge Wide told Kalo: ‘You have been working in Greece for years and not applied for asylum there. When you couldn’t work in Greece any more you decided to come to England.

‘Your reasons seem to have been economic but you knew there would be a problem with your immigration status.

‘I’m told you came here because you believed the legal system to be fair and honest.

‘Sorting out your immigration status will involve considerable public expense and I don’t know what the outcome will be.

‘Those who use false documentation to get into the country to take advantage of what is found here will receive a custodial sentence, but on the very unusual facts of this case I am prepared to suspend that sentence.’

Kalo, of no fixed address, admitted possession of a false identity document with improper intention.

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