One for the "you could not make it up files".....A judge has attacked the Government's record on deporting foreign criminals, telling of his frustration at seeing them still walking the streets.
Judge Peter Jacobs said he repeatedly recommended immigrants for deportation - only to walk past them in the city where he works a few months later.
The broadside by the resident judge at Norwich Crown Court will pile more pressure on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
Judge Jacobs spoke out as he jailed a West African woman who had lived and worked illegally in the county for seven years.
He sentenced Jessica White, 22, to ten months in jail and recommended her to be deported when she is freed. But he told Norwich Crown Court: 'The Home Office is better than it was, but they don't keep a proper take on these things.
'I and my brother judges recommend people for deportation and then we walk along King Street or
London Street and see them a few months later.' He added: 'In this case we will have to wait and see.'
Liberian-born White admitted possession of a false passport and entering the UK without leave in 2002. She was arrested after a fracas in her home in Attleborough, Norfolk. The judge spoke out when he jailed her last Friday.
Research by the Tories - revealed in the Daily Mail in December - showed that about 3,000 foreign criminals were released without being deported in 2007. Of those, 2,196 were released early to ease prison overcrowding. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the campaign group Migrationwatch UK, said: 'The judge is absolutely right.
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2 people have spoken:
What mutilation of a lovely thistle!
Agreed.
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