May defends herself over Qatada deportation The Home Secretary has insisted that she had 'unambiguous legal advice' from Government lawyers about the deadline to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada. Theresa May was being grilled by MPs over her handling of the deportation of the Jordanian terror suspect. She backed David Cameron's claims that the Home Office "checked repeatedly" with the European Court of Human Rights about when the deadline expired and was "very clear" about the date. The confusion over when the appeal deadline expired risks seeing Qatada back on the streets of Britain within weeks. Mrs May refused to directly answer whether she had any email or letter from the court saying when the deadline was. The Home Secretary also denied that the row meant efforts to deport Qatada had descended into farce.