A Jamaican crack cocaine and heroin dealer has fought off a bid to deport him.

Keno Forbes, 35, was jailed for three years in 2011 after pleading guilty to 11 charges of supplying class A drugs.

Known under his street name Blood, Forbes commuted from his home in York Road, Stevenage, to Islington on a daily basis to sell drugs.

He was arrested after a specialist unit identified him as a major supplier.

Police searched an address he used in Islington and discovered drug paraphernalia such as scales, a chopping board which had white powder on it, a razor blade, cling film and black plastic.

The Home Office tried to have Forbes sent back to his home country, but his lawyers lodged an appeal under the European Convention of Human Rights – which sets out the right to “private and family life” – and said deporting him would harm his relationship with his wife and children.

The immigration and asylum tribunal ruled in his favour, and a Home Office appeal was turned down.

Now the drug dealer can stay in the country indefinitely.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are disappointed by the tribunal’s decision and are now considering our options in this case. We firmly believe foreign nationals who break the law should be deported.

“We are starting the deportation process earlier and removing foreign criminals quicker than ever.”

The spokesman added: “Since 2010, the Home Office has removed or deported more than 17,000 foreign national offenders, including 4,765 in 2012.

“Through our Immigration Bill we will reduce the 17 rights of appeal to four and those with no right to be here will not be able to prevent deportation simply by dragging out the appeals process. The Bill will also give the full force of primary legislation to our policy that foreign criminals should ordinarily be deported despite their claim to a family life.”