A MAN from Romania who was stopped at the Port of Holyhead, after previously being banned from entering the UK, has been jailed.

Ionut Vasiliu, 39, was today (August 13) sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court (sitting at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court).

He had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to enter the UK in breach of a deportation order.

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Prosecuting, Laura Knightly told the court that there is no record of how Vasiliu initially entered the UK.

But in March 2022, at Northampton Magistrates’ Court, he was convicted of driving offences, having already received convictions in Romania and Italy.

After the Home Office became aware of this latest conviction, an indefinite deportation order was issued on August 24, 2022.

The following day, Vasiliu applied for asylum, saying his “life was at risk” if he returned to Romania.

But in October, saying he now wanted to go back to Romania, he withdrew his asylum claim, and was removed from the UK on a flight to Bucharest on Novembr 2.

On July 18, 2024, though, Border Force officers stopped him as he got off a ferry in Holyhead, which had travelled from Dublin.

Vasiliu was arrested, and said: “I didn’t know nothing about the deportation order… that’s why I came. You should have just sent me back instead of arresting me.”

During a police interview later that day, he said he had come to the UK with the intention of travelling to Corby, Northamptonshire, where he would live with his brother-in-law and work in construction.

Representing Vasiliu, Amy Edwards said he admitted his offence “at the outset”, and said he wasn’t aware at the time that the deportation order was indefinite.

His previous convictions are not for similar matters, she said, while Vasiliu now wants to return to Romania, having not spoken to his family since being remanded in custody.

Sentencing, Judge Huw Rees told Vasiliu: “If you didn’t know at the time, which I suspect you did, you do know now that there is a deportation order in respect of you.

“The reason for that is because of your varied previous convictions.”