Steve Moxon could be sacked as a result of the disciplinary hearing

The disciplinary hearing of Home Office official Steve Moxon ended on Wednesday with no decision taken on his future.

The civil servant, who could be sacked, said key checks were waived to make the numbers coming to Britain seem less dramatic when the EU expanded in May.

He insists he "exhausted all possible routes" before going to the press.

The revelations sparked the row which led to the resignation of the then Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes.

Following a three-hour meeting on Wednesday Mr Moxon said the tribunal's decision would be "forthcoming, not in days but maybe within a couple of weeks".

According to Mr Moxon, 48, from Sheffield, checks were waived in the cases of migrants from eight eastern European countries that joined the EU in May.

Ms Hughes resigned in April - a month after Mr Moxon's allegations were made public.

An internal inquiry concluded that local officials were trying to clear backlogs and ministers did not know about their decisions.

Surreal

The civil servant's formal disciplinary hearing was held in private at a hotel near Leeds-Bradford airport.

Discussing the prospect of the hearing on Wednesday, he told BBC Breakfast: "I am in a strange, surreal situation where I am going to a hearing to decide what?

"There is no point in me going back. They obviously don't want me back and the institution is still not implementing necessary changes."

The 48 year-old civil servant justified turning to the press by describing what he deemed to be "a complete and total breakdown of the immigration service".

Mr Moxon, from Sheffield, was forced to explain his actions in April before a Home Office human resources boss.

I think I could be sacked, but there's no-way I was going back there to work anyway Steve Moxon

The hearing gives the civil servant a chance to respond to a Home Office report on his behaviour.

Mr Moxon said the Home Office report concluded he had acted reasonably but his revelations had not been not covered by the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

The Act allows workers to expose wrongdoing at work.

"The [Home Office] report has already gone way beyond its remit in that it recommends disciplinary action be taken against me," said Mr Moxon .

"It proves the Act isn't worth the paper it is printed on."

He added: "I think I could be sacked, but there's no-way I was going back there to work anyway.

"I'm not going until they sack me. What I do after that is open to question."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not comment on individual members of staff, it would not be appropriate."