Man who chewed a pensioner's face will not be deported (From Hereford Times)

Man who chewed a pensioner's face during violent attack in Lyonshall will not be deported

12:30pm Friday 20th July 2012 in Kington

THE man responsible for one of the county’s worst crimes in recent years cannot be deported from the UK despite still being assessed as a “serious threat”, immigration judges have ruled.

Jan Ometak believed he was battling a “supernatural beast” when he bit off and swallowed part of a pensioner’s thumb then ripped flesh from the victim’s face and body with his teeth after smashing his way into a house at Lyonshall late at night in 2006.

Ometak, a Slovakian national, was cleared of attempted murder at Hereford Crown Court by a jury that determined him to be insane.

The judge ordered Ometak to be detained for treatment in a secure hospital until a mental health review tribunal or the Home Secretary could authorise him as fit for release.

Now a special immigration tribunal ruled that – despite concerns over the “genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat” Ometak still posed – he could not be sent back to Slovakia.

• More on this story in this week’s Hereford Times .