About us
See other news storiesUpdate on recording crimes committed abroad
17 January 2007
On Tuesday the Home Secretary updated Parliament on the work being done to identify thousands of British residents convicted of committing crimes overseas.
Home Secretary John Reid issued a written ministerial statement updating Parliament on how the work to process the records of crimes committed overseas was progressing.
He explained that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Criminal Records Bureau have now completed their checks into whether offenders in the 540 most serious cases had sought disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau for employment.
Progress is being made
While information wasn't completely verifiable for all 540, research is now complete on all the serious cases in which the identity of the offender can be determined, the Home Secretary said.
'ACPO and the CRB have now established that five individuals committed offences in the EU that should have been on the Police National Computer at the time they sought a disclosure,' the statement said. 'None of these offences were of a violent or sexual nature, but they included four drugs-related offences, and one of assisting illegal entry into a country.
'Of these five people, we now know that one was never offered employment, and that two are no longer in employment with the employer who asked for the CRB check.
'In relation to the other two, each employer has now been provided with the new information on overseas convictions.'
Dr Reid said that police and criminal records staff also investigated the cases where the identity of the offender was not certain. 'This search has yielded nine such individuals (whose employers had sought disclosure of their criminal records backgrounds), none of whom had overseas convictions of a violent or sexual nature.'
All nine of the employers involved were contacted and notified of the overseas convictions that had not previously appeared on their applicants' domestic criminal records, the Home Secretary said.
'In four cases, the individual was never offered employment by the employers who asked for the (criminal records) check,' Dr Reid said. 'In two other cases the individuals were no longer employed by the employers who asked for the checks. Of the remaining free, the CRB has contacted their current employers and made them aware of the possible new information.'
Other police action
Dr Reid's statement informed Parliament that, in addition to the work being done to ensure that all employers involved were notified, police are also activating powers to place all those on the list who had been convicted of sex offences abroad onto the sex offenders register. Police, he said, will go to Magistrates Courts to apply for notification orders under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in all of those cases.
The statement continued, 'The events of last week have made clear to me the complexity of the issues we face across government and beyond. This is not helped by the differences in systems, procedures and criteria for recording and using for public protection information about criminality in this country and outside the UK.
'I have therefore written to Cabinet colleagues proposing a thorough review of the way in which such information is shared and used.'
International cooperation
As part of his investigation into the issue of processing foreign convictions, Dr Reid said he'd spoken with a number of foreign leaders: 'We have agreed to work closely together to accelerate a programme of work to improve both the speed and quality of data exchange across Europe, and I have emphasised the importance of including biometric data.'
Over the coming weeks and months, he said, he would continue to press for more information to be provided by other governments about British residents convicted abroad, to make the process more efficient, and to ensure that serious offenders are registered in this country.
