'Slap in the face': Family’s fury as illegal immigrant who caused son’s death still not deported years on from tragedy

Cameron Arneaud, 20, was riding his motorbike home from work when he was struck down by another driver on 22 December 2023 in Finedon, Northamptonshire.

Syed Bukhari, 27, from Pakistan, had failed to observe a stop sign. He was later jailed for 30 weeks for causing death by careless/inconsiderate driving.

Cameron’s devastated dad, Daniel, arrived on the scene just minutes after the incident, which saw Cameron thrown from his bike.

"I was under the impression that it's a 30mph, slow-moving road, so I expected to see him a little bumped up at the side of the road with a blanket on'.

"When I arrived, the road had been completely shut off, and I was in devastation and a state of shock when I saw the air ambulance team working on Cameron on the floor'.

"I was just screaming his name to let him know I was there."

"After about 15 minutes, in what felt like a lifetime, they had to tell me that there was nothing they could do, that Cameron was gone, and that they needed my permission to stop the CPR, so I had to ultimately had to go to his side, say my goodbyes, and give them permission to stop."

Sadly, Cameron's injuries were so severe that paramedics were unable to save him.

'Slap in the face'

His mother, Alison, turned up a short while later with one of Cameron's younger siblings, and their grandfather, as he was taken away in an ambulance.

Alison told LBC "the younger siblings would have been six, seven and eight, so trying to tell small children what happened just before Christmas was really, really hard.

"He had a lovely group of friends [and] he so loved his family… he was so hands on - even just ringing his nan just to ask “how are you, nanny?”.

Nearly a year after the fatal crash, Bukhari was jailed for 30 weeks at Northampton Crown Court for causing death by careless/inconsiderate driving, but he was released after just 10 weeks because of overpopulated prisons.

Alison and Daniel have told LBC that it was "a slap in the face" to find out that not only had Bukhari been released after 10 weeks, but he was in the UK illegally when he killed their son.

Bukhari came to the UK from Pakistan on a student visa in January 2022 but his right to remain in the UK expired in June 2023.

Despite this, Bukhari, from Luton, was still in the UK illegally at the time of the crash in December 2023.

He had also managed to obtain car insurance with an invalid Pakistani driver's licence, failing to ever apply for a UK driver's licence.

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Immigrants outside of the EU are legally required to apply for a UK driver's licence after a year of living in the country, after which point their overseas licence becomes invalid.

Alison and Daniel are campaigning for tougher car insurance checks, which they believe could have prevented the death of their son.

The Home Office has said that the government is pursuing deportation action against Mr Bukhari, although 20 months since the fatal crash, the department has confirmed that he is still living in the UK, as he has "submitted representations which require consideration."

Illegal migrants who risk facing a Deportation Order can make submissions to stay in the UK by drawing on laws such as Article 8 of the ECHR, which protects an individual's right to a family life.

The Home Office declined to confirm the submissions Mr Bukhari has put forward in this case.

'Travesty'

The MP for North Bedfordshire, Richard Fuller, wrote to the then Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, asking her to use her discretionary powers to intervene in this case and push for Bukhari's immediate deportation.

Mr Fuller has told LBC: "We have this convoluted process where I have my constituents, Cameron's parents, who are going through trauma, and we're coming up to another Christmas, where this man is still in this country, and neither our courts or our government seem to be able to arrange for him to be taken out of this country'.

"I'm not surprised that he's still in this country, but I am disgusted.

"It is a travesty that he was given a light sentence, and was then allowed out on early release, and then not immediately deported to his country of origin, and then he decided he was going to file for reasons to stay in this country'.

"There are so many things which have undermined public trust in our immigration system. Public frustration is at an absolute peak", Mr Fuller has said.

Alison has told LBC that the Home Office has suggested that Bukhari will face a tribunal hearing, in light of his application to stay in the UK, but that a decision might not be reached until 2026.

Alison has repeatedly asked the Home Office for details about why Bukhari is appealing deportation and the progress of court proceedings.

She has been told that this information cannot be disclosed because of General Data Protection Rules.

"If you're a foreign national offender, some of these rights shouldn't be afforded to you. How do you have a right to stay in the country where you broke these laws?", Alison has told LBC.

"We just want answers to know what we can do to ensure this process doesn't happen to anyone else,' Daniel said.

The government is under increasing pressure to deport foreign national offenders, particularly in light of the sentencing of asylum seeker from Ethiopia, Hadush Kebatu, who was convicted of sexual assault in Epping, sparking anti-migrant protests across the country.

The Home Office told LBC it doesn't comment on individual cases, but has stated that it takes "all possible steps" to deport foreign national offenders.

In the last year, the department added, 5,200 offenders were deported, amounting to a 14% increase on the previous year.