Foreign criminals who dodged deportation in the wake of Sir Keir Starmer signing a letter calling for flights to be halted went on to commit murder, batter a 999 worker and supply hard drugs on Britain’s streets.
The dangerous thugs won last-minute reprieves from Home Office flights sending them back to Jamaica in 2020.
In February that year, Sir Keir joined dozens of Labour MPs to campaign against deporting around 50 foreign criminals to Jamaica.
Their letter, to the then PM Boris Johnson, said it was ‘crucial that all further deportations are cancelled’, pending a review following the Windrush scandal.
The MPs compared the deportations of criminals to the Windrush episode, even though that involved migrants who suffered an injustice and who had committed no crimes.
It was two days before a planned deportation flight, and two months before Sir Keir became the Labour leader. Some 23 of the 50 criminals, including rapists and killers, managed to get off the February 2020 flight after last-minute court appeals. Their lawyers toasted their success after halting their removal, declaring: ‘What a result.’
Labour said at the time that Sir Keir had nothing to do with processes that allowed these men to remain in the UK.
In the wake of the letter signed by Sir Keir, another Home Office deportation flight to Jamaica – in December 2020 – saw another surge of last-minute appeals which led to serious criminals avoiding removal.
Last night the Home Office said: ‘Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free to roam Britain’s streets.
‘Since the election we’ve removed 3,594 foreign criminals, up 16 per cent on the previous 12 months.’
Among the criminals who evaded the deportation flights in 2020 – after the letter Sir Keir signed – are those pictured , as well as: