No jail return for terror suspect

"G" was in London's Belmarsh prison for more than two years

The home secretary has lost his bid to send back to jail an Algerian terror suspect under house arrest.

Officials said the man, known only as G, broke bail conditions by having two unauthorised visitors to his home.

But Mr Justice Collins ruled that Charles Clarke had not proved "to the necessary standard" that there had been a breach.

The home secretary said he was "disappointed" with the court's decision to allow G to remain on bail.

G was held for two years without trial before being freed on bail on mental health grounds in April 2004.

Grave suspicion is insufficient to prove there was a breach Mr Justice Collins

Mr Justice Collins, sitting at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) tribunal, said he was giving G the benefit of the doubt despite having "the gravest of suspicions" that there had been unauthorised visitors.

"Grave suspicion is insufficient to prove there was a breach," he added.

"We are not satisfied to the necessary standard that the secretary of state has proved a breach and in the circumstances we will take no action towards the revocation of bail."

'Possible error'

G's legal team said the Home Office bid to revoke his bail appeared to have been sparked by secret evidence.

His counsel Ben Emerson QC said he could only guess such evidence had been obtained from human intelligence, visual or technical surveillance or some form of listening or oral device.

G's BAIL CONDITIONS 'House arrest' does not yet exist in UK law; instead G is under very strict bail conditions Can only leave home with police escort Contact allowed only with wife, daughter, solicitor or doctor Anyone else must be approved by Home Office in advance Electronic tag must be worn Tag monitoring firm must be phoned five times a day Equipment that can contact outside world - such as computer or mobile phone - banned Existing land line phone removed and replaced with one supplied by authorities Access to home must be given to police, immigration officers and tag monitoring firm

Each of these methods was "subject to error", Mr Emerson said.

After the ruling, Mr Clarke said he was "disappointed" by the tribunal's decision.

He said he made the application to Siac because he had believed G to be in "serious breach of his bail conditions".

"Every step will be taken to continue to monitor G's bail conditions closely so that any further breach can be dealt with swiftly and appropriately to ensure public safety," Mr Clarke said.

G is the only detainee held under the government's anti-terror laws to be kept under virtual house arrest instead of in prison.

He was freed from Belmarsh prison after judges at Siac heard how his mental health had deteriorated during his incarceration.

The three judges - appointed to review cases of foreign nationals suspected of terrorist involvement - said indefinite detention had caused a state of psychosis in G.

They agreed with then Home Secretary David Blunkett that the Algerian was dangerous because of his alleged links with al-Qaeda.

However, they argued the risk was manageable if the man was subjected to very strict bail conditions that in effect put him under house arrest.