Minister ‘hiding behind law’ in border row over double murder suspect

Labour’s Khalid Mahmood said he was “astounded” that the Immigration Minister Damian Green had failed to confirm how Rimvydas Liorancas entered the UK.

Liorancas, 37, was found hanged at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes last month while on remand for the murders of policeman’s parents Avtar and Carole Kolar.

Mr Mahmood, whose constituency includes the Kolars’ home in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, asked the Home Office at the start of February to investigate claims that Liorancas entered Britain without a passport after previously being deported.

The MP has now received a response from Mr Green, who said he was unable to comment on the matter because of the murder investigation.

Mr Mahmood said: “He has written to me and told me there is nothing he can tell me about how he got into Britain without a passport because the murder investigation concerning Mr Liorancas is ongoing. Except it isn’t, is it? Because he’s dead.

“I am utterly astounded by the incompetence of this response.

“It seems clear to me that Mr Green is simply hiding behind the skirt-tails of the law because he does not want to admit the terrible failings of the Border Agency in this country.”

Pledging to continue to fight for answers as to how and why Liorancas was allowed into Britain, Mr Mahmood, who represents Birmingham Perry Barr, added: “Quite simply, the Kolars would not have been killed if border officials had done their jobs properly.

“I am not going to leave the matter here.

“I am demanding that an inquiry be set up to investigate how, and why, this man got into Britain.”

Although West Midlands Police is continuing to investigate the Kolars’ deaths on behalf of the coroner, the force has said that it is not looking for other suspects.

In a statement issued shortly after Liorancas was found hanged, a spokeswoman for the Home Office said the department could not comment on the matter because a police inquiry into the deaths was ongoing.