Deport driver, urges death crash girl's father

The father of a girl left dying under the wheels of a car driven by a failed asylum seeker today begged judges for "justice" for his daughter.

Paul Houston, 41, from Darwen, Lancashire, told judges they had the power to bring "my seven years of hell to an end" by sending Aso Mohammed Ibrahim back to Iraq, after he knocked down 12-year-old Amy Houston.

The Iraqi Kurd, banned from driving at the time, ran off, leaving the youngster trapped under his Rover car. He was convicted of driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Mr Houston was left to make the decision to turn off her life support machine hours later.

Since the incident in Blackburn, Lancs, in November 2003, Mr Houston has been campaigning to get Ibrahim deported.

He said Ibrahim, jailed for four months after the offence, had left his daughter to "die like a dog" under his car as he fled the scene, and begged for an "ounce of justice".

Ibrahim, who has been convicted of a string of offences since coming to the UK illegally in 2001, was never removed and following a tortuous nine-year legal battle, he was later given the right to live here by a judge.

Following pressure from Amy's family, the UK Border Agency is appealing against the judge's decision in a bid to have him deported.

Today, Mr Houston, an engineer, sat just yards from Ibrahim as the case was heard at an Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber in Manchester.

He requested the two judges hearing the appeal read a letter, an impassioned plea, before making a decision, which will be handed down next month.

Ibrahim brought to the hearing his young son and daughter, born to his British partner, along with her two children from a previous relationship.

The children played quietly as the case against their father was outlined by counsel for the Border Agency.