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Charles Clarke has been fired as UK home secretary following a deepening scandal over revelations that thousands of foreign criminals released from UK jails were not considered for deportation, although that is supposed to be routine. One of them is wanted in connection with the killing of a police officer.
Somalian Mustaf Jama was allowed to stay in Britain just months before he was implicated in the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in November. Jama is still on the run.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to fire Mr Clarke comes the morning after Labour's drubbing in local elections.
Yesterday evening, it emerged that a foreign criminal released without being deported is now a terrorist suspect. But that's only the beginning. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was freed in 1998 after only two years' imprisonment on a five-year sentence for armed robbery. In November 2003, the man applied for British citizenship, and the following September the Home Office issued him a passport! David Blunkett was Home Secretary at the time; three months later, he left under a cloud due to sex- and influence-related scandals, whereupon Charles Clarke took over.
Mr Clarke said he disagreed with Mr Blair's decision to remove him as home secretary, insisting he should stay on to clean up the mess that transpired under his charge. Declining offers of other posts in the government, Mr Clarke returns to the back benches. He is replaced by former Defence Secretary John Reid.
Previous related post: Violent crime up in the UK
[...] Clarke sacked [...]
[...] What has the UK Home Office done wrong now? By StatGuy Are you sure you want to know? The new Home Secretary, John Reid, has been on the job for barely two weeks, and there are already suggestions that he is being crushed by his department’s incompetence. The former Home Secretary Charles Clarke was fired after revelations that thousands of foreign criminals were improperly permitted to remain in the UK after their release. Now it has emerged that hundreds of violent criminals assigned to open prisons have vamoosed. Records released for one such prison reveal that an average of almost two convicts have gone AWOL every week for the past three years. Prison Service figures show that offenders have been escaping from Leyhill Open Prison, Glos [Gloucestershire], at the rate of almost two a week for three years. It is one of 13 open prisons in England. The Home Office last night refused to give absconding rates for the others, but did not suggest they would be any less serious. [...]
[...] Clarke sacked [...]
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