Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Failure to deport criminals roils British politics
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 29, 2006
LONDON - Five foreign criminals released from prison in recent years without being considered for deportation have since been arrested and convicted of drug-related or violent crimes, Britain's top law enforcement official said Friday.
The government's failure to consider deportation for 1,023 prisoners before freeing them over the past seven years has created a public uproar and political headache for Prime Minister Tony Blair since Home Secretary Charles Clarke revealed it this week.
Clarke said a search of police records found that five of the prisoners had been convicted of offenses involving drugs or violence since their release.
A rape allegation was made against one prisoner but there was insufficient evidence to prosecute, Clarke said. A separate allegation of rape against another is being investigated, he said.
Clarke said the search had revealed no other cases in which an offender was convicted of a serious crime, although some of the released foreign criminals are being investigated on minor charges.
Some had speculated that news of serious new crimes by the convicts could mean the end of Clarke's career but the prime minister's spokesman said Friday that Blair maintained "full confidence" in Clarke. The home secretary said he would report next week on efforts to track freed prisoners, an indication he did not intend to quit, as opponents have demanded.
[Last modified April 29, 2006, 01:18:13]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
