THE father of a hit-and-run victim has welcomed recommendations to review Human Rights law to deport foreign criminals.

Paul Houston said a review of the law was a ‘step in the right direction’ after several attempts to deport the failed asylum seeker who knocked down his daughter Amy in Blackburn in 2003.

Failed asylum seeker Aso Mohammed Ibrahim was illegally driving a car when he hit and killed Amy. Her father Paul, from Darwen, has campaigned for his deportation back to Iraq ever since.

But earlier this year two High Court judges threw out an appeal by the UK Border Agency to overturn a decision allowing Ibrahim, 33, to stay, on the grounds he has fathered two children in this country.

However Mr Houston said he had been dealt some fresh hope after comments by immigration minister Damian Green.

Mr Green today said that it was ‘frustrating’ that the UK courts had adopted a stricter definition than the European Court of Human Rights when someone with a family is fighting deportation.

Mr Houston said: “I welcome anything that is prepared to look at Human Rights law. It is only a recommendation but it is a step in the right direction. We will have to see what the effect is going to be . I welcome any attempts to control article eight which gives people a right to family life.

“I don’t want to get too optimistic it is only a recommendation.”

Mr Green told parliament: "It is frustrating and clearly what we need to do is not just meet public demand, but also help the courts to do so.

"If it requires Parliament to make an explicit statement through the immigration rules to make sure we strike a better balance, then that's what we will do.

"There is clearly an enormous public demand for this and we're very keen that we should meet that demand."

The Home Office is considering the circumstances in which the public interest in removing someone should outweigh their right to a family life as part of its review of family visas.

The right to a family life - Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is enshrined in UK law under the Human Rights Act - was the number one reason foreign criminals or illegal immigrants managing to defeat deportation bids in the courts last year, figures showed.