Cameron denies ‘complete mess’ over Qatada deportation

The Prime Minister denied making a “complete mess” of getting Qatada out of the country, saying the Home Office was “very clear” about the date, had checked with the court and considered the precedents.

Home Secretary Theresa May has insisted that the appeal by the radical cleric’s lawyers should be thrown out because it missed a three-month deadline, but advice from the research department of the Council of Europe – which is responsible for the court – suggests otherwise.

The confusion could lead to Qatada being back on British streets in just two or three weeks.

Mr Justice Mitting, president of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), returned Qatada to jail after his arrest last week but said: “If it is obvious after two or three weeks have elapsed that deportation is not imminent... then I will reconsider bail along the basis of a more leisurely timetable than that necessarily required for a full-blown appeal to Siac.”

Mr Cameron said: “The Home Office was very clear that it had the right date for the deadline expiring on the Monday evening (April 16). It had checked repeatedly throughout that process, it was working on that basis and all the case law pointed in that direction.”

Qatada has been fighting deportation for 10 years.

A panel of judges at the Strasbourg-based court will now decide whether the appeal, which was made at 11pm local time (10pm BST) last Tuesday, was in time or not.

If the deadline had expired, the judges have no discretion to allow the appeal to be considered by the court’s Grand Chamber.