Hundreds of criminals from abroad are on the run in UK

HUNDREDS of foreign criminals including rapists and violent offenders are on the run after the Government took too long to deport them, new figures suggest.

In just over two years immigration authorities lost track of nearly 500 overseas nationals who were facing removal from the UK after serving prison sentences for their crimes.

They had all been released into the community while their removal was organised, and would have been required to report to the Home Office at set times, and can be subject to bail conditions and electronic monitoring.

Data obtained following a Freedom of Information request show a total of 494 foreign national offenders “absconded” while they were subject to deportation action from 2014 to the end of March 2016. Many were later located but, as of last month, the whereabouts of more than 200 were still unknown – up to four years after contact with officials first ceased.

Tim Loughton MP, a Conservative member of the home affairs committee, said: “It is extraordinary that the Home Office has allowed so many convicted foreign offenders who clearly have no place to remain in the UK to roam free to do as they wish while paperwork for their deportation is being sorted.”

The Home Office said more than 41,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the country since 2010, including a record 6,346 in 2016-17.

A spokesman said: “This week, like every week, more than 100 foreign criminals will be removed from the UK.

“We never give up trying to locate absconders and we are overhauling the reporting system.”