Paedophile illegal migrant 'swallowed battery to stop him from getting deported'

A paedophile illegal migrant tried to stop himself getting deported by swallowing a vape battery.

The convicted child sex offender was getting sent back to his home country of India. He ate the battery in what a High Court judge described as a deliberate attempt to 'be taken to hospital' and avoid being deported.

Sharma was convicted in Scotland last year of sexual activity with a child and supplying Class B drugs, reported the Daily Mail.

The Home Office had directly arranged his removal after the Indian government repeatedly delayed providing the paperwork to get him out. Two months later, by a failure of bureaucracy he was still in the UK.

He was jailed for three years in August 2024 before being released in November last year and moved to a secure immigration centre. His sentence was shortened because he'd already spent some time in custody.

He was released on bail in May, but wasn't actually let out because officials couldn't find approved accommodation for him that would be far away from schools, parks and where children were likely to be.

Following the battery incident, another deportation was scheduled for November 6 but Sharma didn't board the flight because the Indian officials still hadn't filed the correct paperwork.

As of Tuesday, he was in a secure immigration centre near Glasgow to make it easier to prevent further attempts to disrupt his removal process by doing things like swallow objects.

The High Court in London heard that he has "failed to comply with bail conditions on several occasions, including committing criminal offences".

The Home Office told the court his removal was 'likely imminent' and that the claimant posed a risk to the public.