Politics

UK fails to pass on details of 75,000 convictions of foreign criminals to home EU countries


The UK has been accused of failing to pass on the details of 75,000 convictions of foreign criminals to their home EU countries and covering up the scandal.

An error with the police national computer meant that EU countries were not told about the crimes committed, the sentences given doled out by UK courts or the risk they posed to the public.

The police national computer error went undetected for five years.

According to the Guardian during that time one in three alerts on criminals were not sent to EU member states.

Dangerous criminals could have travelled back to their home countries without the normal notification to local authorities of their presence.

Christine Jardine MP, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, said: “UK police rely on EU-wide data-sharing systems to identify criminals and keep us safe. For the Home Office to fail so badly to live up to its side of that agreement is shameful.

“The Home Office has serious questions to answer over this. Not just the failure to pass on details of convicted criminals to other EU countries, but the cover up afterwards as well.


“Ministers must also tell us how this affects negotiations for a future security partnership with the EU. We urgently need a deal that protects access to these databases for our police, but this scandal doesn’t inspire confidence that they will achieve one.”

Sophie in ’t Veld, a Dutch MEP on the European parliament’s committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, told the Guardian: “This revelation of the failure to alert authorities on criminals and the cover up afterwards casts serious doubts on the UK as a reliable partner.

“The purpose of information exchange is enhancing security. If one side fails to deliver, security gains are zero and cooperation pointless. The UK government has to consider very carefully how it intends to restore trust, bearing in mind negotiations have to be concluded by autumn of this year.”

Minutes of a meeting ACRO Criminal Records Office last May state: “There is a nervousness from Home Office around sending the historical notifications out dating back to 2012 due to the reputational impact this could have.”

A minute of a meeting held the following month said: “There is still uncertainty whether historical DAFs [daily activity file], received from the Home Office, are going to be sent out to counties (sic) as there is a reputational risk to the UK.”

Asked if the Home Office had resolved the problem in the seven months since the second meeting, a spokesman said: “Work is already underway with the police to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

“Last year, the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications through ECRIS to EU member states and received over 16,000 from the EU, helping ensure serious criminals were brought to justice.”





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