Hundreds of foreign criminals disappear off Home Office's radar

New figures published today show immigration authorities lost track of nearly 500 overseas nationals, including rapists and violent offenders, in just over two years.

They were facing removal from the UK after serving prison sentences for their crimes.

Data obtained following a Freedom of Information request show a total of 494 foreign national offenders (FNOs) “absconded” while they were subject to deportation action from 2014 to the end of March 2016.

Many were later located but, as of last month, the whereabouts of more than 200 were still unknown – up to four years after contact with officials first ceased.

Conservative MP Tim Loughton, a member of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: “It is extraordinary that the Home Office has allowed so many convicted foreign offenders who clearly have no place to remain in the UK to roam free to do as they wish whilst paperwork for their deportation is being sorted.

“There should be a fast-track deportation system from the prison to the plane with clear information-sharing to make sure they do not gain entry again.”

If there is no immediate prospect of deportation or removal, a foreign criminal who has completed their custodial sentence can be released into the community. They are required to report to the Home Office at set times and can be subject to bail conditions and electronic monitoring.

Offenders are recorded as having absconded if their whereabouts are unknown and all procedures to re-establish contact have failed.

Figures released by the Home Office show 169 FNOs absconded in 2014, followed by 250 in 2015 and 75 in the first three months of 2016.

The statistics show 196 male absconders remained at large as of February 9 this year. Fifteen females who absconded in 2014 and 2015, plus an unspecified number of five or fewer who absconded in 2016, were also yet to be tracked down.

FNOs with convictions for violence, rape and other sexual crimes, fraud, money-laundering, possession of weapons, burglary, forgery, motoring offences and handling stolen goods were among those unaccounted for as of last month.

The Home Office said more than 41,000 foreign offenders have been removed from the country since 2010, including a record 6,346 in 2016-17.

A spokeswoman said: “This week, like every week, more than 100 foreign criminals will be removed from the UK. We never give up trying to locate absconders and we are overhauling the reporting system.

“We’ve introduced measures which will mean that in the future, all non-detained foreign nationals subject to deportation proceedings or a deportation 
order will be electronically monitored.”