The best thing about Abu Qatada is his beard - the sort that was populated by Edward Lear with “Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren”. The second best is his taste, captured by a Sun photographer in Acton, for multipacks of Charmin toilet paper and Diet Coke. When among the cursed infidels (having achieved this domicile with the help of a forged passport), avail thyself of all they have to offer, including their benefits system, legal aid system, soft drinks and softer toiletries.

At this point we run out of good things to say about Abu Qatada, whose preaching was so extreme that Abu Hamza once had to disavow it. His sermons inspired the 9/11 murderers, the Jordanians have convicted him in absentia for terrorism and he has amassed large amounts of money and is accused of using it to help to fund terrorism.

But although he represents a fairly obvious danger to people in this country (and most others too) we have - until now - been unable to rid ourselves of this self-invited guest. This felt like an unacceptable irony since, were his caliphate to come into existence, created by the woman-stoning, apostate-beheading forces of extreme Islamism that he so reveres, it seems unlikely that it would tolerate those who subjected it to the mildest criticism, let alone those who preached its violent overthrow while on social security.

It's easy to understand, then, those angered by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights to award him £2,500 compensation for his earlier detention, it having been declared wrongful by the House of Lords. This award is slightly offset by the decision of the House of Lords this week, that Abu Qatada should be extradited to Jordan to face trial.

Personally, were I to discover that Abu Qatada had stepped from an Acton pavement into the path of the 207 bus for Ealing Broadway, my sympathies would lie with the driver and delayed passengers. Even so, I rejoice at his award. It was our legal system that determined that Abu Qatada, like any other woman and man in this country, enjoyed certain human rights, and that these had been breached. After that it was natural that he would receive some compensation, which was, in the event, set very low, because the court recognised the existence after 9/11 of a public emergency.

Our society has refused to discriminate against someone simply because he declared himself an enemy, and has insisted on his rights being upheld. So this hero of the caliphate can now watch his compensation being added to Coke and bog roll to represent the ultimate triumph of liberal democracy over medievalism. Enjoy it, Abu Qatada, it's metaphorically choking you.

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