Sex attacker seeking asylum in the UK is flown 5,000 miles by private jet flight for emergency medical treatment at the taxpayers expense

A sex offender seeking asylum in the UK was flown 5,000 miles by private jet for medical treatment in the Middle East at British taxpayers expense.

The clandestine operation to save the Sri Lankan came after he made an apparent suicide attempt on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean – which Britain is in the process of controversially surrendering to Mauritius.

The 34-year-old Tamil, who is being held on the secret military base of Diego Garcia, was flown to a country in the Middle East, where he received emergency surgery, before being returned on the jet at a total cost to the taxpayer of nearly £100,000.

British diplomats are trying to find a third country prepared to take the man permanently to avoid the public outcry which would greet his settlement in the UK.

The sex offender was part of a large group of Sri Lankans who fled their country on a fishing vessel back in 2021, with the UK accepting 61 of them.

The man, who says he is unable to return to his homeland after allegedly being tortured by the countrys military, was not included in the deal because of the six-month sentence he received for assault and sex attacks carried out while he was in Diego Garcia.

The individual, who has not been identified, tried to take his own life after losing a High Court appeal against Home Secretary Yvette Coopers decision to refuse him asylum.

As the Chagos Islands are not under the jurisdiction of the European Convention on Human Rights or the Refugee Convention, the asylum seeker was unable to use them to aid his appeal against Ms Coopers decision to deny his entry into the UK, leading the High Court to rule that it was lawful for the Foreign Office to seek an alternative country willing to permit the sex offender entry.

The clandestine operation to save the Sri Lankan came after he made an apparent suicide attempt on the Chagos Islands (pictured) in the Indian Ocean

The sex offender was flown to a country in the Middle East, where he received emergency surgery, before being returned on the jet at a total cost to the taxpayer of nearly £100,000

The Foreign Office is in discussion with five states over the possibility of them taking in the man. Mr Justice Chamberlain accepted that the Tamil man had never had any legal right to enter the UK and that the risks to public safety and confidence in the immigration system were real.

Issuing his judgment, he declared: Admitting the claimant in these high-profile circumstances would tend to undermine the UKs international commitment to tackling violence against women and girls.

The task of evaluating the weight and importance of avoiding these risks falls, in the first instance, to ministers, not judges.

Given the nature of the risks in question, the court should allow a wide margin to the democratically accountable ministers who, together with their officials, performed it.

The asylum seeker was part of a large group of Sri Lankans who fled their country on a fishing vessel back in 2021, with the UK accepting 61 of them

Ministers have negotiated with the Mauritian authorities to stop the Chagos Islands becoming a back-door route into the UK.

A diplomatic source said: The public deserve to know about this ridiculous use of their money – being spent giving world-class private medical treatment to sex offenders in Diego Garcia and flying them around by private jet.

Opening the question of British sovereignty over the Chagos Islands has made it more difficult to deal with cases such as these.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: This Government inherited a deeply troubling situation that remained unresolved under the last administration for years after the migrants arrival on Diego Garcia. There are no commercial flights to the base, meaning medical evacuation requires medevac transport. We do not comment on specific cases.