A MURDERER claiming he should not be deported because of his right to a happy family life has been convicted of assaulting his wife.

Albanian native Ardian Rragami, 47, of Browning Drive, Wickford, punched and spat at his wife Chrysoulla and also held a blade to her throat during a row at their home which was captured on film.

Rragami first sneaked into the UK in 1998 after shooting his neighbour with a machine gun over a row in a bar.

He went on the run and tricked his way into the UK by posing as a Kosovan refugee called Ardian Gashi.

He was sent back to Albania in 2009 after being convicted in his absence, but served just four years after successfully appealing the length of his jail sentence.

On his release, he moved to Wickford with Chrysoulla Michaels, 49, and their two daughters but he was detained in February 2015 and has been fighting deportation ever since claiming it would break up his loving family life - a claim under Article Eight of the Human Rights Act when fighting deportation.

He is currently on immigration bail which requires him to wear an electronic tag and is subject to a curfew.

But, according to the Sun, Rragami was filmed by his niece grabbing Ms Michaels by the throat and threatening her with a blade while drunk on gin, in January 2018.

At Basildon Crown Court last week, he admitted assaulting Ms Michaels by punching her and cutting her jaw with a kitchen knife as well as assaulting a child.

However, the decorator was only handed an eight-month jail sentence which was suspended.

If he had been jailed for at least 12 months, the convicted killer would have automatically been deported.

Ms Michaels, whose two children are now aged 13 and 15, begged the Home Office to deport him.

The 49-year-old, who works as a beautician, told the Sun she feared for her life and added: “Ardian has used the right to a family life to argue his case against deportation, but he’s thrown that away now.

“I stuck by him in the past but until he’s deported it will never stop.”

Conservative MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, Mark Francois said: “This is a shocking case, particularly in view of the violence involved.”

He remains in the UK.