Polish criminal allowed back in the UK as he avoids sentence for rape

A Polish man extradited from Britain after serving a prison sentence for burglary was allowed back into this country as he sought to avoid a jail term in his homeland for raping a teenage girl. Krystian Debinski, 44, known to police in Poland as "Sandwich", travelled here in December 2023, even though he had been sentenced to four years and eight months for the child sex attack.

After a 17-month court battle, the father-of-four is set to be extradited to Poland for a second time to serve his jail term after a ruling at Westminster Magistrates' Court last month. Debinski raped his victim in the town of Ziebice in October 2015 after plying her with an unknown "psychotropic substance". According to Polish prosecutors, she "lost consciousness and the RP [Debinski] raped her, causing further injury".

He then later beat up the youngster to try to "influence her" to change her evidence after she had reported him to police.

Debinski has a long list of convictions in Poland - 11 in total for 23 offences between 2000 and 2017, mainly for burglary, with prison sentences totalling more than 21 years.

He came to Britain to start a new life, but in November 2017 was jailed for seven years at the Old Bailey for burglary offences. The trial judge at the time recommended that he be deported at the end of his sentence.

While he was in prison, he was re-arrested for the rape offence in Poland and consented to his removal in June 2020 after he was granted early release from his burglary sentence in Britain.

Debinski was present at his rape trial in Poland in January 2022, where he was handed a four years and eight months inside.

The decision was confirmed at Wroclaw Appeal Court in September the following year, but before he was jailed, he disappeared and months later returned to Britain with his second wife after changing his name to Krystian Zelmert.

Debinski was re-arrested for the Polish rape charge in May last year in Southend, Essex, and has been remanded in Wandsworth Prison, south-west London, ever since.

During his extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, his legal team argued it would be unjust to extradite him on the grounds that he has a right to a family life and health issues, including several suicide attempts.

Ruling on his removal, District Judge John Zani said: "It is appreciated that there will be hardship caused to the RP [Debinski] and to his current partner. However, that of itself is not sufficient to prevent an order for extradition from being made.

"I take into account that there is likely to be insurmountable Brexit uncertainty for this requested person, were extradition to be ordered and he seek to return, bearing in mind not only his unenviable list of convictions but also that a recommendation for deportation was made by the crown court judge when sentencing him to seven years' imprisonment."

Debinski was due to be sent home on October 22, but his lawyers lodged an appeal with the High Court against his removal.

On Saturday, the Home Office was facing questions as to why Debinski had been allowed to return to Britain while he faced a jail sentence for child rape in Poland and he had previously been removed from this country.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "When foreign nationals commit serious crimes in our country, we will always do everything in our power to deport them.

"This Government deported almost 5,200 foreign national offenders in its first year in office, a 14% increase on the previous year, and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets."

Debinski's lawyers, HP Gower, declined to comment.