A British rapist will be deported from Australia to the UK after losing an appeal against his expulsion.
Leslie Neil Cunliffe, 63, kidnapped and raped a 21-year-old woman in a 1999 attack likened to the movie The Silence of the Lambs.
Cunliffe's visa was cancelled by Australian authorities after he was released from prison on April 16 last year, and he was sent to a detention centre pending deportation.
On Monday, Australian Federal Court Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton refused his appeal against the decision to cancel his visa.
She rejected his submissions that he had been denied procedural fairness.
Cunliffe had posed as a policeman before he abducted the woman at gunpoint, handcuffed her, placed a hood over her head and imprisoned her in a shed he had prepared by padding the walls.
He tied his victim to a chair bolted to the floor, blindfolded her and placed headphones on her head so she could neither see nor hear what was going on.
Cunliffe next strapped a fake bomb to her chest and took photos of her to demand a $1 million ransom from her parents. He then raped her.
She was rescued from her prison after she screamed for help.
A detective later described the "dungeon" in the garage as akin to something from the book and film The Silence of the Lambs.
Cunliffe, who has lived in Australia for 45 years, was originally sentenced to 20 years' jail for the crime. His term was reduced by five years in 2000 and he was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years.
He took Federal Court action to stop the Australian government from deporting him back to the UK.
Cunliffe argued against his visa cancellation on three grounds, including that deporting him could breach Australia's international human rights obligations.
An immigration department spokesman could not say when Cunliffe would be deported, and could not speak in general terms on how long such a procedure usually takes to be finalised.
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