The final insult

If only the Prime Minister's words were true. They were not. It is why an Iraqi immigrant, who stabbed two NHS consultants to death in Wakefield in a frenzied attack because he believed he had received "a command from Allah" will be allowed to stay in Britain when he is freed shortly.

It is a deplorable decision. Laith Alani, a paranoid schizophrenic, is being allowed to stay in Britain because he might pose a threat to fellow Iraqis if he does not have access to the medication that his condition requires.

What about the safety of the British public? Once again, they find their interests coming a distant second to the "human rights" of convicted killers.

And, to compound matters, the authorities failed to inform the families of Michael Masser and Kenneth Paton, the consultant cosmetic surgeons so senselessly killed in November 1990, that Alani will be allowed

to remain in the UK if he is set free, as expected, next year.

So much for putting victims at the heart of the criminal justice system – one of the much-vaunted commitments made in New Labour's 1997 election manifesto.

For two decades, the families of the two consultants have had to come to terms with their loss and how the doctors came into contact with Alani because he wanted a tattoo removed from his arm. He had claimed that the adornment was contrary to his religion.

It would be a small comfort to them, however, if Mr Brown honoured his word and ordered this nonsensical judgment to be revoked. He must do so without delay.