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Clarke under fire over deportation row Wednesday April 26, 07:38 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - Home Secretary Charles Clarke was under pressure on Wednesday to explain how more than 1,000 foreign prisoners including murderers and rapists were released without being considered for deportation.

In a major embarrassment to Prime Minister Tony Blair's government ahead of local elections next week, the Home Office said on Tuesday it had no idea where the vast majority of the

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1,023 convicted criminals were.
They were released over the past seven years and only a handful of them had been traced.

Clarke will make a series of interviews on Wednesday to explain the situation and he is expected to make a statement to parliament later in the day.

"I think it is a shocking state of affairs," Clarke said on Tuesday. "The concern, possibly anger, that people will feel is entirely understandable."

The revelation will come as a severe blow to Blair's government which says it is tackling crime and has pledged to deport foreigners it regards as a threat to national security.

It is also likely to play into the hands of the Conservative Party as well as the fringe far-right British National Party, campaigning on an anti-immigration ticket for the vote on Thursday next week.

The BNP is expected to make gains in the ballot.

The 1,023 prisoners had all served their terms and were entitled to release, but should have been considered for deportation before they were freed.

Around 160 of them were subject to specific orders from the courts which recommended their removal from Britain.

MINISTER WON'T QUIT

Clarke did not say exactly how the oversight had come about and why it had gone on so long but acknowledged the prison service and immigration authorities were both at fault.

However, even though both bodies come under his jurisdiction, he refused to quit his job.

"I think one should be candid with failure (but) I don't intend to resign on this matter," he told reporters.

The prisoners included three murderers, two found guilty of manslaughter, nine rapists, and 12 sex offenders including five paedophiles. Others were jailed for kidnapping, assault and drug and immigration offences.

The Home Office said it did not know how many, if any, of the prisoners had reoffended since their release.

Britain's prison system has been under increasing strain in recent years as prisoner numbers climb. The Home Office says the number of foreign nationals in the country's jails had risen from 4,200 in 1996 to over 10,200 now.

The debacle only came to light thanks to questioning of the government by members of the parliament's Public Accounts Committee.

Richard Bacon, a Conservative MP who posed many of those questions, accused the Home Office on Tuesday of "a complete dereliction of duty".

"There's been administrative chaos. There's no other way to explain it other than to say the system has largely broken down," he told Reuters.

Theres no excuse for this gaff.

He was advised back in July last year of this issue, yet did nothing about it.

Indicative of Labour policy that dosent want top rock the imigration boat/politicaly correct boat. they are allowing thousends of imigrants to live here illegaly and even when they are caught doing something vile like murder or sex offensives they dont get booted out.

In his polaticians way he wouldnt give a straight answer as to if he actualy knew where these offenders are no in the community, the obvious answer he should of given was NO ..

28 Apr 2006 by Malcolm Drury

As the crisis of confidence over the loss of dangerous foreign ex-prisoners grows, Charles Clarke, the embattled Home Secretary, has announced that the government is considering suing software behemoth Microsoft for damages

It has emerged that details of many of the most dangerous foreign prisoners freed without facing deportation cannot be found on Deeply Flawed, the national police computer.

A grim-faced and haggard Mr Clarke told reporters that Deeply Flawed uses Microsoft Home Office 2003 (Small Business Edition), and that has been confirmed as the source of the problem. He said that all details of the ex-prisoners had been properly entered into the computer database but a flaw in the software had irretrievably deleted them.

"Once we had identified the source of the problem we removed the software from the computer and took it back to Staples for a refund," he said. "Then we got on the phone to [Bill] Gates and told him that unless he antes up a million or so as compensation we'll sue him for ten times as much as punitive damages. That's how much we reckon it will cost in police overtime to find these people."

"I want to assure everybody, and especially the Prime Minister, that none of this was my fault. I don't even know how to use a computer," he added.

He ended by appealing to all missing ex-prisoners to come forward and register voluntarily. However, he said that as a back-up measure, in case the appeal fails, he had instructed Home Office officials to try Google in an attempt to locate the ex-cons.

Prime Minister Tony Blair was unavailable for comment. Downing Street officials would neither confirm nor deny speculation that he had locked himself in a lavatory and was loudly chanting "can't hear you, can't hear you".

Late News
Microsoft Corporation has responded to the threat of legal action with a counter threat to buy out the Home Office. Mr Clarke is believed to have said that he would like to think about it over the weekend.

From Deadbrain

Press Association
Saturday April 29, 2006 8:38 PM

Prime Minister Tony Blair said there were "no excuses" for the mistaken release of hundreds of foreign prisoners - and refused to guarantee Charles Clarke would survive the fall-out.

He told the News of the World that the future of the Home Secretary "depends on what happens" as efforts continue to track down the criminals and trace any reoffending.

Mr Blair said he had had no hesitation in refusing Mr Clarke's offer to resign over the affair because the Home Secretary had been trying to sort it out.

But asked whether his view would change if one of those released committed a serious crime, he said: "I don't think I'm going to speculate. It depends on what happens, what the reasons are."

Mr Clarke has revealed that five of the most serious offenders released without being deported have gone on to commit drugs and violence offences. Another two had been accused of rape - one since ministers were made aware of the situation.

Asked for his initial reaction to being told about the prisoner releases, Mr Blair said: "The reaction you'd expect -- pretty angry about it.

"But it was important to get to the facts and see what people had been trying to do. I make no excuses for what happened, it was wrong and shouldn't have happened.

"The reason the problem was uncovered was because people started to make changes. We had no knowledge until we started to work through the system about whether foreign prisoners were being deported."

He added: "This is a systemic failure that goes back over years. That's no excuse not for us to have sorted it out. What isn't correct is the impression this is a problem that has just arisen."

It was a "fair point" to ask at what point a politician became responsible, he conceded. "But he has been acting on it. That's where I disagree with people who say he's ignored it. He hasn't."

BBC news announced at 10:35hrs that Mr Clarke had been SACKED.

More info when it becomes available

SKY
Updated: 10:50, Friday May 05, 2006

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has been sacked in a major Cabinet reshuffle.

He is to return to the backbenches after a fiasco about foreign prisoners being released in Britain rather than considered for deportation.

After he lost his job, Mr Clarke said, although he disagreed with his dismissal, he respected the Prime Minister's decision and promised to support the Government in the future.

Jack Straw has lost his position as Foreign Secretary.

But Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was 'spared the cull' despite a sex scandal over his affair with secretary Tracey Temple.

He will also remain as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, Geoff Hoon was appointed Secretary of State for Europe.

The Foreign Office said there will be one minister for the continent and one for the rest of the world.

Margarett Beckett was appointed to the latter post.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, under fire over NHS deficits, job losses and threats of hospital closures, has also been defended by Mr Blair in recent days.

More to follow...

I`m not surprised this came after the council elections....especialy after the details of a asylum seeker who was prisioned for mugging but who then was made a UK citizen came out. Yes this happen before Clarke .. but is a scary example of how useless the foriegn office is.

Charles Clarke announces he'll be tougher on foreign criminals and vows to deport them.


"Looks like the British have started deporting their undesirables at long last."

thought CC was an excellent home secretary. Have never been a fan of him, but up until this point, I thought he'd handled himself excellently in the position. But the more this dragged on, and the more details which emerged, his job was becoming more and more untenable.

Maybe if Blair had done what he should have done and sacked CC on the spot when the fiasco came to light we would not have seen the BMP double the number of councillors they have in England.

BNP doubles number of councillors

The BNP has become the second party in Barking and Dagenham
British National Party supporters claim it is "on its way" after doubling its number of councillors in England.

The biggest gains were in Barking and Dagenham, where it seized 11 of the 13 seats it contested, becoming the second party. One ward has still to declare.

The BNP also won seats in Epping Forest, Stoke-on-Trent and Sandwell.

The party fielded more than 350 candidates and now has 46 seats in England. Before Thursday's local elections it held about 20 of 22,000.

Hodge criticised

Barking Labour MP Margaret Hodge has been criticised for saying during the campaign that 80% of white families in the area were "tempted" by the BNP.

Barking and Dagenham is the first council in the country to have the BNP as the second-biggest party.

It also picked up three seats in Stoke-on-Trent, where Labour lost overall control, and three more in Sandwell in the Black Country.

It took a further three in Epping Forest, in east London.

The BNP won single seats in Solihull, Redditch, Redbridge, Pendle, Leeds and Burnley. However, it lost a seat in Bradford.

BNP leader Nick Griffin said the party had benefited from "people wanting to kick the Labour Party really hard and we're the politically incorrect way to do it".

He added: "When you look at some our results elsewhere in the country where we've hammered the Conservatives as well, this is a revolt against the entire liberal political elite by the hardworking people of Britain who resent being taxed to have our country transformed."

'Dishonest politicians'

Russell Green, who won a seat in Sandwell, said the BNP was "on its way".

He added: "It is plain to see that the vast majority of us are sick and tired of the dishonest and self-interested politicians that are ruining our communities and our country."

When asked about the BNP, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett told BBC Radio 5 Live: "They are deceitful. They are very unpleasant, nasty people who try to exploit problems and try to turn people against each other. They are very dangerous."

But Mr Griffin said: "We're not a Nazi party. People can look at our manifesto online and see we're committed to a libertarian position in many things, and most certainly to the extension let alone the maintenance of democracy."

The BNP claimed a shock win from Labour in Solihull when it won the Chelmsley Wood ward by 19 votes, securing its first seat on the council.

Speaking after the vote, which saw the Conservatives retain control, winning BNP candidate George Morgan said it was a victory for the ordinary working man.

He said: "This is Labour's third term and they've done nothing for the country. People are sick and tired of all the lies. We are offering people a choice."

His Labour opponent, Nicholas Stephens, said: "It's a very disappointing result but the BNP were quite close two years ago so it's not surprising, what with the events going on nationally over the past two weeks.

"You don't have to be a genius to work out why some Labour voters either stayed at home or switched to other parties."

Mrs Hodge said: "We have to challenge the values of the neo-Nazi party."

On her comments during the election campaign, she added: "My aim was not to give the BNP publicity but to raise awareness of the issues. It is something I have been saying for some time.

"I think we must have a much more open policy on the issue of race. This is something that affects the whole of the political spectrum, not just the Labour Party.

"This is an issue that we have all failed to address properly, I feel."

BBC