"So why is the UK making that planeload of hijackers so welcome?"
Because we always make everyone welcome, law abiding applicants for entry and bogus asylum seekers alike.
The UK taxpayer also spent a fortune providing lawyers to defend them when they were done for highjacking.
"What example does that set?"
Precisely.
That's one of the reasons we attract more bogus asylum seekers than any country in Europe, and probably the world.
When then Home Secretary Jack Straw made a statement saying they'd be sent straight back because highjackers could not be seen to benefit from their actions there were howls of protest and he had to apologise and say he meant "after a trial, of course."