But he won’t be going right away. Instead he is being sent to prison for 10 1/2 years for murdering his girlfriend.
Prosecutors said Ako Amin, 19, hit his girlfriend, Cheryl Tariah, with a hammer and then strangled her to death February 7, the day after Britain rejected his asylum appeal.
She had come to visit him at the hostel where he was living in east London and the couple argued. Amin, who was described as “controlling and jealous,” then hit the college student.
After killing her, the court heard, he covered her body with a duvet and casually strolled to a nearby library where he told a friend, “The hammer didn’t do it. I had to strangle her.” He asked the friend to dispose of the body; the friend refused.
He was arrested three days later clinging to the bottom of a truck at Dover, trying to flee across he English Channel.
Sentencing him Monday, Judge Richard Marks said: “You were possessive, controlling and jealous and you were obsessed about her infidelity, although there is no evidence at all to substantiate the belief that you expressed that she was seeing anybody else.’’
Amin was sentenced after pleading guilty to murder Monday.
He met Cheryl via a social networking website. For around a year, they had an on-and-off relationship.
Her friends said he tried to control her, repeatedly accused her of being unfaithful and even hacked into her Facebook and email accounts to change the passwords so she could not send any messages.
On the day of the killing, a neighbor overheard him shouting out other men’s names and then Cheryl crying, “Don’t hurt me. Leave me alone and get off me.” The shouts were followed by screams and choking sounds that could be heard on the street below through an open window, the court was told.
Judge Marks told him: “This was a shocking incident in which a young woman has lost her life. The consequences to Cheryl Tariah’s mother can only be imagined. She lost her husband in 2010 and is left by herself to look after a severely autistic son. No doubt Cheryl would have been a great comfort and support to her in that task. But she no longer has that comfort and support through your selfish and wicked behavior.
“I hope that you ponder for the rest of your life what you did that day for it was shocking and appalling and unforgivable.’’
Amin came to the UK in December 2008 as an unaccompanied 15-year-old after his brother was reportedly murdered for his political beliefs in Iran.
Amin lived with a foster family in England and went to college, before moving to the hostel where he worked part-time and claimed welfare benefits.
His defense attorney, Jason Dunn-Shaw said: “Despite the dreadful outcome, he was extremely fond of this lady with whom he had entered his first relationship and he was and remains aghast at what happened. The fact of his rejection from this country the previous day may have been perhaps a contributing factor to this offence.
“He stole a young, innocent life and nothing can be done about that. He will always live with that memory and the horror of what he has done.’’