Borders chief hits out at May over deportation errors

THERESA May was yesterday accused of suppressing a critical report that found hundreds of foreign criminals are escaping deportation.

John Vine, the independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, gave the report to the Home Secretary in the summer but it has only just been published.

Mr Vine, who has exposed glaring gaps in the UK’s border controls, said he could ‘see no reason’ why she had not published it earlier.

He also claimed ministers were deliberately sitting on important reports to ‘reduce their impact.’

The latest report looked at a major new scheme known as Operation Nexus, which involves immigration officials working in police stations to run checks on suspects’ immigration status and criminal history.

It concluded that despite significant improvements in some areas, many foreign offenders were still being released by police without checking they were allowed to be in the country.

The scheme has had a ‘positive impact’ after it was introduced in London in October 2012, the report said. The number of immigration offenders deported from the capital has risen by 158 per cent from 418 in 2011-12 to 1,077 in 2013-14.

But 336 of 717 foreign nationals detained by West Midlands Police – the other force in the scheme’s trial – were released before their immigration status was checked.

The force also only saw a small rise in the number of foreign criminals that were removed – from 239 in 2012-13 to 274 last year. And some suspects held by the Metropolitan Police were freed because staff shortages meant there were no immigration officers available to run the checks.

Last week, it emerged that a Polish gang who attacked university professor Paul Kohler, 55, and his wife in their home in Wimbledon, south-west London, had convictions in their homeland for violent robbery.

Other shortcomings revealed in the report included missed targets for foreigners leaving under ‘conditional cautions’, which are given for petty crimes and usually allow the suspect up to 16 weeks to leave Britain voluntarily rather than be prosecuted.

Shadow immigration minister David Hanson said: ‘Theresa May’s reputation for competence will suffer if she can’t ensure schemes like this that can deliver results aren’t put into action properly.’

Mr Vine has been embroiled in an ongoing feud with the Home Office over the publication of reports, and last week sent a letter to the Commons’ Public Affairs Committee, which is investigating the immigration system, to condemn the delays.

He also announced in the summer that he was resigning in ‘frustration’ at attempts by Mrs May to ‘manipulate’ his work.