Romanian criminals dodge jail by flying to Britain – then use human rights to stop us deporting them!
CRIMINALS from Romania are exploiting a legal loophole to travel to Britain and then use legal aid and human rights laws to stop the UK courts sending them back.
Villains including gangsters, fraudsters, smugglers and other convicts are being put on bail by Romanian judges – but not having their passports confiscated, meaning they are able to travel to the UK.
Some tell the courts that they had already booked to see family or go on holiday. One crook even had his prison sentence deferred so he could attend a pigeon fanciers’ fair in the UK.
In some instances, once they arrive here they claim legal aid and argue they cannot be extradited back because jail cells in their homeland are too small.
The revelations will reignite the controversy over how EU rules and freedom of movement have made it more difficult to block or boot out foreign criminals.
One of the eastern European country’s most wanted men was also allowed to fly to Britain even though he has been prosecuted over the deaths of 64 people at his Bucharest nightclub.
George Alin Anastasescu was responsible for a 2015 blaze at Club Colectiv in the Romanian capital. Fireworks set off during a band’s performance ignited the club’s flammable ceiling. He returned to Romania and was yesterday in court.
In June the Mail revealed how two Romanian fugitives cannot be extradited because jail cells in their homeland are too small. UK judges said the cramped conditions contravene rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. The court insists prisoners must ordinarily be allowed ‘personal space’ of around three metres squared.
The Romanians face spending all or most of their sentence housed in a space of two metres squared.
Justices at the High Court in London wanted assurances that the men – IonelRemus Grecu and Cosmin-Ionut Bagarea – would have more space before they grant extradition requests. The ruling this summer delayed the removal of the pair from Britain – hitting taxpayers with court costs and legal aid bills.
Grecu, 42, had fled to Britain to dodge a prison sentence for membership of a violent burglary gang. Bagarea, 39, was given a suspended prison sentence in January 2012 for growing cannabis.
A legal source told the Sun newspaper: ‘There are scores of criminals and suspects using the loophole. Courts in Romania allow it to happen. Once given permission to fly to the UK, they know their lawyers will stop them being sent back.’
Tory MP Tim Loughton, a member of the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘ This threatens to make Britain the laughing stock of the European justice system. It is crazy that Romanian criminals are being allowed to fly here before they start prison sentences and ridiculous that some are then relying on human rights laws in the British courts to avoid being sent home.’
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: ‘Earlier this year the High Court upheld the recommendation of the European Court of Human Rights that extradited prisoners should be guaranteed a minimum of three square metres of space.
‘The CPS is working closely with the Romanian ministry of justice to ensure that violent and sexual offenders are returned as a priority and all wanted Romanians are extradited as quickly as possible.’
‘This will make us a laughing stock’
FOREIGN criminals’ use of the Human Rights Act to escape deportation has become so commonplace that we cease to be shocked by it. But the Mail reports a case today which almost beggars belief.
Romanian villains awaiting trial are jumping bail and travelling to Britain. Once here they claim legal aid to fight extradition on dubious human rights grounds.
They include fugitives who can’t be sent back because Romanian jail cells are too small and don’t provide the poor souls with enough ‘ personal space’. It really is ludicrously easy to take this country – and the long-suffering taxpayer – for a ride.