Qatada's time may be up An American self-defence expert has been banned from the UK by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, on the grounds that his presence here would not be conducive to the public good. Tim Larkin wanted to pass on some of the techniques he learnt as a US Navy Seal to people who feared violent attack, but he was accused of fomenting vigilantism. It is an odd world where he can be excluded from the country while Abu Qatada, the firebrand Muslim cleric regarded as a threat to national security, cannot be deported. Where the latter is concerned, however, the end could finally be in sight. The decision yesterday of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to reject Qatada's latest appeal has removed another of the seemingly endless series of legal hurdles placed in the way of his deportation. The Home Office can now formally revive the process for sending Qatada back to Jordan, where he is expected to stand trial for alleged terrorist offences. Inevitably, this will lead to renewed efforts by his lawyers to block the deportation and, no doubt, a fresh appeal to the human rights court in Strasbourg. When this happens, the Government will need to act boldly and decisively - and it has the legal backing to do so. Our own courts gave permission for deportation more than three years ago, but Qatada appealed to Strasbourg. The judges there have now accepted Jordanian assurances that he will not be mistreated; so the only extant issue is whether he will receive a fair trial. Yet in 2009, the law lords ruled that upholding this principle in another jurisdiction "does not require the UK to retain, to the detriment of national security, a terrorist suspect." In other words, the legal grounds for further appeals by Qatada have narrowed to nothing. He must not be allowed to make a mockery of the rule of law for much longer.