AN ILLEGAL immigrant who killed a 12-year-old girl while he was banned for driving will hear within days if his final appeal against deportation is granted.

Aso Mohammed Ibrahim knocked down and killed Amy Houston in Newfield Drive, Blackburn, in Nov-ember 2003.

He was jailed for four months for driving while disqualified and failing to stop after an accident, and ever since, Amy’s dad, Paul Houston, of Argyle Street, Darwen, has been fighting to get him deported.

Mr Houston shed tears of relief last October when the Iraqi Kurd was taken into the custody of the UK Border Agency.

Speaking at the time, Government officials pledged Ibrahim would be removed from the country ‘at the earliest opportunity’.

But in April Ibrahim won a court appeal against him being detained while his deportation case was processed.

Last month Ibrahim’s case against deportation on the grounds that he has married and fathered two children in England was heard in Manchester.

Mr Houston said: “It was very difficult for me to go to the hearing and stand 10 feet away from the man who killed my daughter.

“If I thought he was genuinely sorry, I would have stood up in court and said I didn’t want him to be taken away from his children.

"I know what it feels to have your family broken up.

“The decision on his deportation is imminent. If the guy gets to stay then it will be an absolute travesty.”

Karen O’Brien from the UK Border Agency said: “We are waiting on a decision from the judge.”