(Normanton, Pontefract and
Castleford) (Lab): The Minister has raised the awful case of
Thomas Roberts. I have asked him repeatedly why it was not known
that the murderer was wanted for murder in Serbia and why it was
also not known that he had already been turned down for asylum in
another European country. Why did the authorities and Border
Force not know that information?
The Minister for Immigration (): As I said in answer to an
Adjournment debate on this issue, I have commissioned a review of
all of the circumstances surrounding that most serious case so
that we can understand the multiple failures that may have
happened while that individual has been in the United Kingdom and
what lessons we need to learn. Separate to that, I have taken
further steps to enhance the security checks that are conducted
when individuals arrive at the Western Jet Foil and at Manston,
aided by the change in the law that I made earlier in the year so
that we have, in extremis, up to 96 hours in which to hold
individuals in that setting while we conduct those security
checks. I am working closely with the security services, police
and the National Crime
Agency in that regard. If there are other things
that we need to do, we will do them, and if there are other
databases that we should be arguing for access to we will
certainly do so, because it is critical that we secure our
borders in this regard.
