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Criminals 'go unchecked'
10/01/2007 12:54 - (SA)
London - Home secretary John Reid will
hold an urgent meeting on Wednesday with police and senior
officials after it was revealed criminals convicted
abroad have returned to Britain unchecked.
Opposition parties said it was a "disgraceful blunder" that means offenders, including murderers and paedophiles, may not have been identified in routine checks when applying for jobs to work with children.
The Home Office, which has been rocked by a string of
scandals in the last year, said it had begun an inquiry.
"This is a very serious problem and I take it very seriously
indeed," Reid told reporters on Tuesday evening.
"I want to establish the facts and satisfy myself that
everything has been done to protect the public."
Reid, who was only told about the issue on Tuesday, will
discuss it in a meeting with senior police officers and
Criminal Records Bureau chiefs on Wednesday.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said 25
rapists, 29 paedophiles and five murderers were among thousands
of convicts left off the police computer and sex offender
register.
ACPO's Paul Kernaghan said it meant police would not have
offenders' DNA, pictures or fingerprints.
"That is a totally unacceptable position," he told a
parliamentary committee.
The Home Office said a full and immediate inquiry was
under way. Details of all the most serious offenders have now
been added to the police database and a new system is in place.
Officials are checking whether more than 500 people
convicted of the most serious offences have attempted to find
work in Britain.
The Liberal Democrats said the Home Office had "left the
police and the public in the lurch".
"This blunder not only exposes this government's
administrative incompetence, it puts the British public at
greater risk from these offenders," Lib Dem home affairs
spokesperson Nick Clegg.
His Conservative counterpart David Davis said the Home
Office must "get the basics right" before attempting to launch
the planned national identity card scheme.
"Of itself, this is disgraceful," he said. "But it is by no
means the first of the government's systems which have had major
failures in the past few years."
Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke was sacked last May
after the bungled release of foreign criminals embarrassed Prime
Minister Tony Blair's government.
His successor Reid said the diverse Home Office department
was "not fit for purpose".
- Reuters
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