
An Albanian jailed for running a brothel allegedly frequented by rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio has been spared deportation after a judge described him as "smart and hard-working".
It is about 25-year-old Kristian Kodra, who was sentenced to two years in prison for running a criminal institution that supplied cocaine and prostitutes. Despite Kodra's convictions for running a brothel, possession of criminal property and possession of false IDs, he has been told he can stay in Britain.
Upholding his appeal against deportation on human rights grounds, Judge Cordella Bart-Stewart said: “There is no evidence that he poses a danger to the public.
"He is a bright and hard-working young man with the potential to contribute a lot to society. He has a home here and support. He would be able to work. I find that the public interest does not require the appellant to be deported from the United Kingdom.'
She also noted that he had "severe hemophilia" and would not have access to the same level of treatment in Albania, affecting his life expectancy.
Kodra sought asylum in the UK when he was 15 and was granted limited leave to stay before appealing to extend it in 2017. After an initial refusal, he was granted leave for a further 18 months in July 2019, when he was arrested for running a bordello.
His gang made at least £400,000 in the six months before police raided his home in Holborn, central London, in July 2019.
Rugby star Dallaglio, 50, a married father-of-three, was interviewed under caution after officers discovered he had paid £10,550 to landlords, including £3,000 for the Hill.
The 2003 Rugby World Cup winner was not arrested and it was never established what he was paying for, or whether it was only during his visits. In the six-week trial, only his name and expenses were revealed by prosecutors.
They sought to prove that the brothel's profits came from vice by pointing to various transactions, including Dallaglio's. His name emerged after detectives went through 180,000 transactions.