Hundreds of murderers, paedophiles and rapists from Eastern have gained access into the UK despite having criminal records thanks to the ‘weakness’ of the UK visa system.
Shocking police figures uncovered via an FOI request show that the Criminal Records Office (ACRO) liaising with officials in Romania have found more than 700 cases in the last three years where a suspect in the UK has a previous criminal record for murder, manslaughter, rape or a child sexual offence abroad.
According to data obtained by The Telegraph, ACRO has carried out 317,757 cross-border computerised criminal record checks on foreign people arrested in the UK.
A sample based on five nationalities uncovered 524 cases where a suspect had a conviction abroad for murder or manslaughter, 441 cases of a person with an overseas rape conviction and 592 incidents of child sex offences.
Despite tougher post-Brexit rules that allow the Government to ban any overseas criminals jailed for more than a year, people only have to self-declare that they have not committed any serious crime to secure a visa to enter Britain.
Raimondas Jakstas, 26, was imprisoned in his native Lithuania for beating a man to death. He came to the UK and threatened a neighbour with a knife
Vitautas Jokubauskas had been jailed in Lithuania in 1992 for a brawl in which he killed a man
A former senior Border Force and immigration officer told the Sunday paper: ‘It is a weakness in the current system but it’s difficult because individual countries’ criminal records databases are not networked.
‘Even if they were to be, it raises quite a big privacy issue.’
Usually, the foreign crooks’ violent histories are only exposed once they are arrested in the UK.
One high-profile case saw Lithuanian national Vitautas Jokubauskas murder his partner Ramute Butkien before dismembering her torso and stuffing her inside a suitcase.
Her remains were discovered after neighbours in Peterborough complained of an unpleasant smell coming from Jokubauskas’ room.
Jokubauskas told police he only strangled her ‘a little’ with her dressing gown cord to ‘scare her’ after accusing her of having an affair.
At the end of his trial, it was revealed he’d been jailed in Lithuania in 1992 for a brawl in which he killed a man.
In another case, Raimondas Jakstas, 26, who had served five years for beating someone to death in his homeland, went berserk after his neighbour Steve Foster asked him to be quiet.
Jakstas had been kicking plant pots around in the back yard of his Boston home at 10.30pm on March 13, 2015, when Mr Foster asked the thug not to wake his five-year-old son, Jamie.
But the enraged Lithuanian ‘threatened to come up and kill him and his dog’, before trying to kick in Mr Foster’s door.
Armed with a large kitchen knife, he then tried to force his way into Mr Foster’s flat.
Mr Foster, who lived in the flat above Jakstas, barricaded the door with bicycles and called the police while the Lithuanian thrust the knife through the letter box.
It was the second time that day police were called to deal with Jakstas after he was spotted throwing fireworks in the street and abusing motorists at 11am.
At just 16, Jakstas was sentenced to nine years in jail after beating someone to death in Lithuania while awaiting sentence for robbery.
Sentencing him Judge Michael Heath, said: ‘This case highlights a matter that is a legitimate public concern.
‘If someone in this country is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, and life imprisonment is the only sentence that can be passed for murder in this country, then once they are released they are subject to licence for the rest of their life and they are monitored.
Jokubauskas murdered his partner Ramute Butkien (pictured) before dismembering her torso and stuffing her inside a suitcase
Arnis Zalkalns (left) murdered 14-year-old Alice Goss (right) in Ealing in 2014 after arriving in the UK despite having been sentenced to seven years for battering his wife to death in Latvia
‘That does not appear to be the case with those who are convicted of murder in the country of your origin. You were able to come to this country without any hindrance, and live here without monitoring.’
Michael Podlaszczyk, 33, was only revealed to have served 12 years in Poland for killing a man in a drunken after being jailed for life for raping and robbing a woman in a Leicester park.
In another tragic case, Arnis Zalkalns murdered 14-year-old Alice Goss in Ealing in 2014 after arriving in the UK despite having been sentenced to seven years for battering his wife to death in his native Latvia.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Those applying for a visa to come to the UK are required to declare any criminal convictions and are subject to checks against UK police databases, watchlists and immigration databases.
‘They may be refused if they have a criminal conviction, a history of serious or persistent offending or have failed to declare convictions.
‘Our police also carry out routine checks for overseas criminal convictions on foreign nationals who are arrested, and where serious convictions are found, individuals are referred to Immigration Enforcement for deportation consideration.’
A spokesman for Acro said: ‘The UK has well-established mechanisms for exchanging information on criminal records with other countries. This helps UK police pursue criminal investigations and safeguard communities.’
MailOnline contacted ACRO for further comment.