A Pakistani criminal has won a human rights case to stay in Britain because of his teenage daughter’s mental health. The 51-year-old was due to be deported after serving a three-year jail sentence for offences involving criminal property, but successfully challenged the Home Office.

An immigration tribunal heard that his 14-year-old daughter had been “struggling to cope, with disrupted eating and sleeping” at the prospect of her father’s removal. The court ruled it would be “unduly harsh” to deport the man, who was granted anonymity.

The decision comes as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood proposes law changes to limit the ability of foreign criminals and illegal migrants to rely on human rights arguments to block deportation, and to speed up immigration appeals to curb last-minute claims.

The migrant, known as IA, arrived in the UK in 2000 aged 26 and has lived here lawfully for the past 13 years. He has a wife and two daughters who are British citizens; one daughter is an adult and the other is 14.

In 2021 he was convicted of offences concerning criminal property and sentenced to three years in prison. The conviction automatically triggered deportation proceedings.

The tribunal was told a council social worker had “significant concerns” about the younger daughter’s wellbeing.

A counsellor’s report stated her eating and sleeping had been disrupted and that she had developed a “control-and-release cycle” with food, raising fears of an eating disorder.

She had become isolated, stopped attending school, cut herself off from friends and expressed suicidal thoughts, describing a very close bond with her father that had been traumatised by his imprisonment and the continuing threat of deportation.

The girl’s mother suffers from lupus, diabetes and a history of strokes, leaving IA as her primary carer. Upper Tribunal Judge Joseph Neville concluded: “F is described as struggling to cope, with disrupted eating and sleeping.

“IA’s deportation would leave F without a capable primary carer. I find that the effect of deportation on F would be unduly harsh.”