Record numbers of foreign crooks including killers & sex offenders still in UK after failed deportation bids
RECORD numbers of foreign criminals are still in the UK after failed bids to deport them, figures reveal.
At the end of last year 11,769, including killers and sex offenders, were here after completing jail terms.
That is an increase of 89 per cent on five years earlier.
Foreign convicts should be returned to their home country at the end of their sentences.
But when arrangements cannot be made, or deportation is challenged, the criminal can be released into the community.
During the Tory leadership campaign, Rishi Sunak vowed: “I will double the number of foreign offenders we deport.”
But the Home Office statistics also show the number here for at least five years after jail has reached a record 3,708.
In one case, 50 due to be deported to Jamaica won a reprieve after an emergency Court of Appeal ruling.
Several of the men went on to commit serious offences here.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “This is an appalling failure of immigration enforcement.
“The human rights of criminals cannot be allowed to take precedence over the safety and security of the British people.”
The Home Office said the Nationality and Borders Act would make it harder for last-minute legal challenges to frustrate removals.