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Britain blunders by freeing scores of murderers, rapists

British Home Secretary Charles Clarke yesterday faced calls to quit after admitting that more than 1,000 foreign criminals, including murderers and rapists, were set free instead of being deported.

Newspapers expressed outrage and disbelief at the fiasco, the latest to hit a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in recent months.

The interior minister revealed on Tuesday that between February 1999 and March this year, 1,023 convicted foreigners who should have been considered for deportation after leaving jail were released with no further action taken.

More than 900 of these people are still unaccounted for and Clarke said the whereabouts of most were unknown.

Three murderers, nine rapists, five child molesters and 20 drug smugglers are among the freed prisoners.

"I think it was a shocking failure by the Home Office and by everybody involved including me," Clarke told the BBC late on Tuesday, reiterating an earlier apology for the mess.

He has so far shrugged off any suggestion of resignation, however, saying he will only go if he fails to rectify things.

"I have considered the question of resignation, I can assure you, and the consideration I have made is that it is my duty and certainly my responsibility to put these matters straight and that is what I intend to do," Clarke said.

But the press turned up the heat yesterday with a barrage of screaming headlines, critical editorials and subtle political cartoons depicting the minister.

The right-wing Daily Mail's headline read: "What criminal incompetence," while the Daily Mirror went with: "Criminal blunder." The Sun, Britain's best-selling newspaper, took the strongest line against the home secretary, demanding his resignation in an editorial entitled: "Clarke must go."

It dismissed as insufficient an admission by the minister that the public was entitled to be concerned about the blunder, adding: "People are entitled to the home secretary's resignation -- or instant dismissal for rank negligence."

The Daily Mirror, for its part, highlighted the dangers of known murderers and pedophiles roaming unchecked about the streets.

The Times newspaper said the Home Office, once referred to as the "dustbin" of ministries because of the enormous range of responsibilities it used to shoulder, should now be known as the "sieve," alluding to its many holes.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Clarke said the error was made because the Prison Service was not focused on the nationality of its prisoners while the immigration authorities were concerned with other matters.
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