A convicted sex offender who was deported from Britain has been sent back to prison after being discovered living in an Essex town.

Blerim Hajdarmataj, 35, appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order. He also admitted breaching his sex offender notification requirements after failing to inform police of his return and his new address.

Judge Richard Conley handed Hajdarmataj a 16-month prison term alongside a consecutive 12-month sentence for breaching the deportation order. Under UK law, a 12-month custodial sentence automatically triggers deportation proceedings once served.

Hajdarmataj, who previously worked as a cleaner and has used the aliases Ben Matka and Rinor Hajdarmataj, was found living in Rayleigh, Essex, in July of this year.

The background to his original deportation stems from an attack in September 2014, following a chance meeting at a Chelmsford bar. Hajdarmataj invited an 18-year-old woman back to his home, and despite her initial refusal, she woke up in his bed the following morning.

Court records show the victim awoke undressed, feeling the room spinning, and discovered scratches, bruises, and bite marks across her body. She fled the property and flagged down a passing motorist for help while Hajdarmataj pursued her.

During his 2016 court case, Hajdarmataj fled the country and was convicted in his absence. Investigators eventually traced him to Albania and located him in Kosovo, returning him to the UK under a European arrest warrant before he was deported in 2019.

Following his capture in 2017, Detective Inspector Terry Balding said Hajdarmataj had taken advantage of a vulnerable woman in a vile manner, showed no remorse, and compounded the victim's pain by fleeing during the trial.

The sentencing follows separate proceedings at the Old Bailey, where 59-year-old construction worker Eugeniu Neamtu was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years for murdering his 63-year-old flatmate, Gheorghe Trica, in Walthamstow over a £5 note. Neamtu had arrived in Britain in September 2023 without declaring a previous 15-year sentence for a fatal stabbing in Romania.

What the court record does not establish is precisely how Hajdarmataj managed to re-enter Britain undetected or how long he had been residing in Rayleigh prior to his arrest in July.

Hajdarmataj will now serve his custodial term before deportation procedures begin once again. I'll be following this one — check back for updates.