Scottish Daily Mail

Paedophile­s, killers and rapists dodge deportatio­n to Jamaica

- By David Barrett Home Affairs Correspond­ent

KILLERS, rapists and paedophile­s dodged deportatio­n to Jamaica with a series of last-minute legal challenges, Priti Patel told the Mail last night.

The Home Secretary blamed the failure to remove more than 100 offenders from the UK on ‘meritless’ legal claims.

She also blasted ‘political interventi­ons’ for stopping the deportatio­ns – a reference to Labour MPs backing offenders’ rights to stay in the UK.

Miss Patel said: ‘Meritless late legal claims and political interventi­ons mean disgusting killers, rapists and child abusers who have violated our laws and values were removed from the manifest and are still on the streets of Britain.

‘This cannot continue... Our Nationalit­y and Borders Act is now law and we are in the process of making reforms that will end the cycle of last-minute claims and appeals that can delay removals.’

The new measures – yet to come into force – will require all legal arguments to be submitted at the beginning of a case. Just seven criminals, with 127 conviction­s between them, were aboard the Home Office charter flight, which cost £200,000, yesterday.

The original passenger manifest stood at 112, but was slashed by late appeals. A full list of the crimes committed by those who avoided the flight had not been released by the Home Office last night.

 ?? ?? ‘We just wondered if there might be space for another two on the deportatio­n flight?’
‘We just wondered if there might be space for another two on the deportatio­n flight?’

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