Free to roam our streets... the 630 foreign criminals who should have been deported

Hundreds of foreign criminals are still living in Scotland when they should have been deported, the Mail can reveal.

More than 630 people served deportation orders, after being convicted for crimes including sexual assault and violence, have not been removed by the Home Office.

The number of foreign criminals at large in the UK rocketed from 11,940 to 17,428 between 2023 and 2024, a record high. The number in Scotland now stands at 635.

It comes as a failed asylum seeker was jailed on Thursday for a sex attack on a vulnerable girl when he should have been deported after a previous attack on a police officer.

Mike Jones, Executive Director at Migration Watch UK: ‘Mass immigration is a ticking time bomb for national security. Illegal immigrants, in particular, are a huge problem – they destroy their documents, work with criminal gangs, and dodge claiming asylum in safe countries.

More than 630 people have been served deportation orders following crime convictions but have not been removed by the Home Office

‘The government has failed to reform the human rights regime and fix the Home Office, letting nasty criminals walk free instead of being deported having been locked up. This isn’t the time for bleeding-heart liberalism; we must put the safety of our people first and foremost.’

In the last decade, the number of foreign criminals living in the community in the UK has risen by more than 13,000.

In the last full year (2023), the number of total enforced returns was 6,381 – less than half of the 14,868 enforced removals carried out a decade earlier.

In another court case, a convicted sex offender was allowed to return to the community in Fife after he finished his prison term in Edinburgh - despite efforts to deport him.

Repeat offender Shahid Hassan, 50, was released from prison after serving time for two sexual assaults.

On February 1 he was sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to two years behind bars although he was released because of the time he had served on remand.

The sheriff also made him the subject of a deportation order.

Hassan’s lawyer described him as a frequent offender and said he had been living illegally in the UK for about 20 years.

The lawyer told the court: ‘One would hope as a member of the public that something is done about his immigration status.’

Hassan had been living in Dunfermline when he carried out his offences but the court heard he had since moved to another town in the region.

A recommendation for deportation to the Home Office can be made where an accused person over the age of 17, who is not a British Citizen has been found to have committed an offence punishable by imprisonment.

Any actual decision on deportation is made by the Home Office.

Hassan was put on the Sex Offenders’ register for 10 years and also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years with several conditions.

This includes telling his supervising of any friendships, associations or intimate or relationships within three days of the relationship starting, not travelling on any public transport unless approved or taking alcohol or non-prescription drugs.

Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity.

Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more.

This is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would be a breach of a person’s ECHR rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention.

Many foreign criminals bring appeals against the Home Office’s attempts to deport them, often slowing down or defeating the process.

Some use human rights laws - such as Article 8 of the ECHR, which protects the right to private and family life - to dodge deportation.

The ECHR was enshrined in Britain’s domestic law by the Human Rights Act two decades ago.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are committed to deporting foreign national offenders and aim to remove them from the UK at the earliest opportunity.

‘Rigorous measures are in place to manage FNOs in the community, including electronic monitoring, and we remain focused on managing cases through the legal process so we can remove any barriers to their deportation.

‘Under this government we have already redeployed 300 additional staff to work on removing people with no right to be here and are committed to delivering a significant increase in returns over the next six months.’