Britain 'Failing' To Deport Foreign Criminals

More than 150 violent foreign offenders have been allowed to continue living in Britain rather than being considered for deportation, a report has revealed.

In addition, it found more than 700 foreign criminals, including killers and rapists, living in the community are on the run in Britain.

The report from MPs on the Committee of Public Accounts said there had been a "complete failure" by the Home Office to deal with the problem of removing foreign criminals from the country.

The "dysfunctional system" must be urgently improved to make sure foreign nationals who have been jailed for more than one year are automatically considered for deportation, as the rules demand, they said.

The Committee of Public Accounts found:

:: 151 foreign offenders released on to the streets should have been considered for deportation between 2009 and 2014

:: 760 foreign criminals, including killers and rapists, are on the run in Britain, according to recent National Audit Office figures

:: Home Office forced to pay out £6.2m compensation 229 foreign offenders since 2012 due to case delays - an average of £27,000 each

:: NAO report also showed police failed to carry out criminal record checks on more than two-thirds of arrested foreign nationals.

In a joint statement, Margaret Hodge, chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, and committee member Richard Bacon, said: "There has been a complete failure to improve the management and removal of foreign national offenders.

"Despite firm commitments to improve and a massive ten-fold increase in resources, the system still appears to be dysfunctional."

The number of foreign offenders in prison has remained at around 10,000. The number of foreign criminals removed from the UK peaked at 5,613 in 2008/09 and has not matched that figure since.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This is a damning report of failure and incompetence in Theresa May's Home Office. Previous home secretaries have resigned over this kind of thing. Yet time and again Theresa May just hides and blames everyone else."

It comes as the Conservatives prepare to unveil plans ahead of the election that will see the Human Rights Act scrapped stopping foreign criminals using family life as a grounds for not being deported.

Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said: "Foreign nationals who commit crime in Britain should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.

"We have removed 22,000 foreign criminals since 2010, despite an almost 30% surge in appeals - while the Immigration Act we brought in last year represents the most radical reform of the deportation process in four decades."

National Policing Lead for Foreign National Offenders, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, said improvements had been made in a number of areas.