A Czech drug dealer and failed asylum seeker who defiantly ‘sneaked’ back into Britain just months after he was deported has now been jailed.
Patrik Durac, 27, has a lengthy criminal record in the UK, serving prison sentences for affray and supplying heroin.
He has also been repeatedly deported and previously boasted in photos on social media about returning to Britain while wearing designer clothing, including a £1,500 Moncler jacket.
Having exhausted all his appeals, the jobless convict was removed from Britain before trying to return through a notorious ‘back door’ for migrants – by catching a ferry from Ireland to the Welsh port of Holyhead.
On Friday, Durac was locked up for 12 months and told he would be removed once more from the UK, after he admitted breaching his deportation order last month.
Durac, who had lived in Stoke-on-Trent, appeared via video link from Berwyn Prison in Wrexham, before Caernarfon Crown Court.
Prosecutor Amy Edwards said his first asylum application was made by his father in 2002 and it had been refused.
But the decision had been appealed on ‘numerous’ occasions until 2022 when the defendant became ‘appeal rights exhausted.’
Patrik Durac, 27, who defiantly ‘sneaked’ back into Britain just months after he was deported has now been jailed
Durac, pictured, has a lengthy criminal record in the UK, serving prison sentences for affray and supplying heroin
Durac, who had a string of convictions involving violence and drugs, had been jailed for eight months and deported for having a false identity document.
Last April he was removed from the UK.
Recorder Simon Hughes said on December 6 fingerprint checks by Border Force had confirmed a passenger travelling as Martin Rafael was in fact Durac. He had changed his name by deed poll.
Durac had a history of asylum claims. ‘There’s an element of persistence in your attempts to enter the UK,’ the judge told him. ‘There’s no reasonable alternative to custody.’
The judge added: ‘Your offending is aggravated by your relevant previous conviction and history of unsuccessful applications including further breach of the deportation order when you have been deported, albeit not prosecuted.’
Defence barrister Simon Rogers said the offence was not particularly sophisticated.
‘The passport upon which the defendant sought entry is a genuine passport. He’s changed his name officially in the Czech Republic to Martin Rafael,’ counsel said.
On a previous occasion, he had used his brother’s passport.
Durac has been repeatedly deported and previously boasted on social media about returning to Britain while wearing designer clothing, including a £1,500 Moncler jacket
Mr Rogers said Durac’s family lived in England and he also wanted to get away from people in the Czech Republic who had threatened him.
When Durac appeared in court last month, the prosecution said the criminal had claimed never to have heard of Patrik Durac and added to an immigration officer: ‘I know my rights.’
His latest conviction comes on the back of a criminal history in Britain.
In 2019 Durac and his younger brother were among a gang which punched and kicked a man in front of terrified children and elderly members of the public.
He admitted affray over what a court heard was an ‘ugly’ revenge attack at Hanley Bus Station on a busy Saturday afternoon and was jailed for ten months.
Two years later he was back at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after police stopped a car in which he was a passenger and found £1,490 worth of heroin and cocaine plus a quantity of cash.
Durac insisted he had not played an active part in the drug-dealing, but he pleaded guilty to being concerned with the supply of heroin and cocaine and jailed for 14 months.
After being freed, in October 2022 he was arrested trying to re-enter the UK at Holyhead and given another eight-month sentence.
In 2023 he was deported indefinitely, yet in 2024 his social media shows him back on the streets of the Potteries.
One photograph from that October features Durac – wearing ripped jeans and a £1,500 Moncler jacket – making a double finger gesture as he hides his face.
In response to the post, a Czech friend commented on his return to the country: ‘You’re back UK yes.’ [sic.]
Further images shows Durac posing with hooded friends around Staffordshire.
He was finally arrested in March 2025 before being removed again for immigration offences.
Durac was then discovered attempting to enter the country once more on December 5, 2025 and he was arrested at Holyhead.
Border officers say illegal migrants like Durac regularly try to sneak in via Holyhead and other Irish Sea ports.
Under the Common Travel Area scheme, citizens of the UK and Republic of Ireland can move freely between the two countries.
As of December, at least 177 people were refused entry at Holyhead, with an enforcement operation in October resulting in the seizure of £20,000 in criminal cash along with multiple false identity documents.
In a statement the Home Office said: ‘Everyone entering the UK must comply with immigration rules.
‘Anyone entering in breach of a deportation order will be detained and removed.’
