Foreign criminals who avoided deportation went on to commit more than 10,000 offences in a single year, shocking new Ministry of Justice figures have revealed.
The data shows that a quarter of foreign offenders went on to reoffend in Britain after being released from prison and remaining in the country.
The statistics, covering the year to March 2022, represent a 25 per cent rise compared to the previous year's figures.
Over a four-year period, foreign offenders were responsible for approximately 40,000 crimes, ranging from murder to knife possession and drug dealing.
Ernesto Elliott was sentenced to life in prison
PA/Met Police
Each of the 3,235 foreign offenders released from jail committed an average of three crimes, totalling 10,012 offences in the year to March 2022.
This marked a significant increase from the previous year, when 2,462 freed foreign criminals committed 8,021 offences.
The figures include both criminals who avoided deportation and those who returned to the UK after being deported to commit further crimes.
Current law requires the Home Secretary to deport any foreign criminal jailed for more than a year, with discretionary powers for those serving shorter sentences.
Rupert Lowe, the Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth who obtained the data from the MoJ, said: "Everyone who commits a crime should be deported. Why are we tolerating this, particularly when we see the reoffending rates are so high?"
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has called for tougher action, stating: "Tens of thousands of offences a year would be prevented if the Government took a zero tolerance approach to deporting foreign national offenders. The public expects robust action."
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Robert Jenrick has called for tougher action
GB News
Rupert Lowe called for any foreigner who commits a crime to be deported
GB NEWSJenrick has proposed legislation requiring annual reports to Parliament detailing the nationality, visa and asylum status of every offender convicted in English and Welsh courts.
One Jamaican criminal, Ernesto Elliott, murdered a 35-year-old man in a knife fight after avoiding deportation through a last-minute appeal in December 2020.
Elliott was among 23 criminals with combined sentences of 156 years who submitted appeals days after 60 public figures signed an open letter opposing their deportation flight.
In another case, Jamaican drug dealer Lloyd Byfield killed a young woman in her home after evading deportation for a violent crime.
Lloyd Byfield admitted stabbing Leighann Duffy 14 times after breaking into her home in east London in 2015
Met Police
Albanian gangster Mauricio Myftaraj was caught with loaded guns and £70,000 worth of cannabis after sneaking back into the UK following his 2015 deportation.
An MoJ spokesman said: "It costs tens of thousands to hold an offender in prison and since the new Government came into power, we have returned 14 per cent more foreign national offenders than in the same period last year."
"As the public would rightly expect, we continue to work closely with the Home Office to deport more foreign national offenders, keeping our streets safe and saving taxpayers millions."
