He may have gone but we're still paying for him: Taxpayer foots £6,000 bill to clean Abu Qatada's filthy house after he was deported to Jordan

• Abu Qatada's wife and five children moved in to property in Stanmore, North-West London, earlier this year
• Family moved out of four-bedroom house last week to join him Jordan
• But property has been left in a poor state with bags of rubbish left outside
  
• Will cost taxpayers thousands of pounds to return house to its former state
  

By SUZANNAH HILLS

Published: 06:06 EDT, 23 August 2013 | Updated: 07:39 EDT, 23 August 2013

His battle to stay in the UK cost the taxpayer in excess of £1million.

But, despite no longer being in Britain, it has emerged Abu Qatada is still costing the public purse - to clean up his former house.

The property in Stanmore, North-West London, has remained vacant since the radical cleric's wife and five children moved out after he was deported last month.

Clean up: Rubbish bags have been left outside the property where Abu Qatada's wife and five children used to live in Stanmore, North-West London, after they left the country

The taxpayer will now have to foot the bill for the property to be cleaned after the family left it 'filed with junk'

Deported: Abu Qatada was deported to Jordan last month a lengthy legal battle to remain in the UK cost the public purse approximately £1.7million

Rubbish is still littered on the driveway outside the four-bedroom home while the garden is overgrown and untidy.

It will cost taxpayers up to £6,000 to get it back in a fit condition before a new family can move in, according to The Sun.

It is estimated the repairs and removal of rubbish from the property could take up to four months.

And, according to agents handling the property, it is costing the Home Office £1,400 every month in rent even though no one is living in it.

This is because the department hasn't handed in its notice to end the year-long tenancy agreement it signed in November.

A source told the newspaper: 'It's been left in a horrible way - it's filthy.

'There are flies buzzing around rotten food in the kitchen. The rest of the house is filled with junk.

Left the UK: Abu Qatada family left the house in Stanmore, North London, to join him in Jordan last week

Sitting empty: Now the the taxpayer will have to fund the clean up of the property before new tenants can move in

'Landlords spent a lot of money doing the place up with carpets and a paint job before they moved in, but it needs it all over again.'

Qatada was first arrested over his alleged terror connections in 2001. He was rearrested in 2005, when attempts to deport him began.

He lodged appeal after appeal, claiming his human rights would be infringed if he was sent home – finally winning his case in the European Court of Human Rights last year.

But Home Secretary Theresa May continued to pursue his removal, signing a landmark treaty with Jordan promising that no evidence obtained by torture would be used against him.

Part of the treaty ensures Qatada's proper treatment in prison.

The Qatadas moved into the taxpayer-funded £450,000 four-bedroom detached house earlier this year while his deportation battle was still ongoing. 

Citizenship: Two of Abu Qatada's children were born in the UK and have the right to live in Britain

Expensive: The family is believed to have received at £500,000 in benefits since arriving in the country in the 1990s

His two youngest children were born in the UK and have British passports so could not have been forcibly removed.

And Qatada’s wife could herself have asked to stay on human rights grounds, arguing that she should not be separated from her children.

But the family members not born here have now dropped their claim to stay in Britain permanently.

The fanatic's wife and five children last week boarded a plane to Jordan to join Qatada, who is awaiting trial on a string of terrorist charges.

The flight was funded by the Government but means the UK is finally rid of a family which has cost the country at least £500,000 in benefits since first arriving in the early 1990s.

The Home Office declined to comment today.

The Home Office hasn't handed in its notice to end the year-long tenancy agreement it signed in November - meaning the £1,400 monthly rent is being paid from the public purse even though no one is living in it

Costly: The clean up could cost the taxpayer up to £6,000 to get the property back to its original state