Murders prompt renewed drive to stop criminals entering UK

Published on Sunday 12 April 2009 22:06

THE Home Office insisted yesterday it was stepping up efforts to prevent dangerous foreign criminals from entering the country as the row intensified over the recent convictions of two Eastern Europeans for murder in Scotland.

Last week Marek Harcar, a Slovakian with 13 previous convictions, was jailed for life for the "vile and barbaric" rape and murder of Moira Jones in Glasgow's Queen's Park.

In March last year, a Lithuanian woman, Jolanta Bledaite, was murdered and one of her killers, Vitas Plytnykas, also Lithuanian, had a conviction for homicide in Germany.

The Scottish Tories demanded yesterday that ministers in Scotland and London should tighten the rules. Immigration is reserved to Westminster and there are no restrictions on EU citizens coming to work in the UK, if they can support themselves.

The Tories, however, believe that more could be done to stop dangerous criminals from coming to the UK to live and said they wanted a "joined-up" approach from the administrations in London and Edinburgh to introduce a tougher regime.

Bill Aitken, the Scottish Tories' justice spokesman, said: "Two young women have tragically lost their lives, killed in Scotland by men who had convictions for violence before they arrived on these shores.

"It is clear that the UK needs a joined-up strategy to deal with what is often a hidden problem emerging after something terrible has happened."

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency said work was under way to develop a more "joined-up" approach across Europe.

"We aim to share information on convictions with other countries and to make sure that their convictions can be taken into account in our courts," she said.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill was taking a keen interest in the debate but had no plans to raise the issue with UK ministers because any changes to existing rules had to be made by the UK government and other European nation states.