Foreign criminals still loose on streets
Less than a third of foreign criminals released on to Britain’s streets have been deported, a senior official confirmed yesterday.
And 90 offenders are still on the run two-and-a-half years after ministers admitted the blunder.
Lin Homer, chief executive of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, told MPs that the vast majority of the 1,023 offenders, including rapists, murderers and child sex offenders, were still in the country.
Revealing the latest figures to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, she said 333 of the former prisoners had now been deported or removed from Britain. A further 291 cases were still being dealt with, including 90 offenders still on the run.
But 399 criminals had been told they could remain in Britain. Either courts had ruled that they could stay or officials had decided against pressing for them to be thrown out.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: “It is outrageous that over two-and-a-half years after the former Home Secretary lost his job over this fiasco just a third of these offenders have been deported and 90 have not even been found.
It is outrageous that over two-and-a-half years after the former Home Secretary lost his job over this fiasco just a third of these offenders have been deported and 90 have not even been found
“Not only does this put the public at risk, it shows the Government is patently incapable of getting a grip on this long-standing problem.”
The scandal over the Home Office’s failure to deport foreign convicts after their jail terms were completed led to the sacking of Home Secretary Charles Clarke in May 2006.
Many of the offenders went on to commit new crimes, including violent attacks. One foreign criminal even committed a murder following his release.
The man had been living in the UK for 30 years and had a string of convictions before being freed in 1999. He is now serving a life sentence.
Ms Homer said 15 more criminals had been tracked down since the last update on the progress of the investigations.
She said the hunt continued for the remaining 90 offenders. “We are not in any sense giving up,” she added.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said the progress made in tracking down foreign criminals and deporting them had exceeded expectations but acknowledged the situation was “not perfect”.
