Britain admits freeing 1,000 criminals in deportation debacle

BRITAIN admitted yesterday it had freed over 1,000 foreign prisoners, including murderers, rapists and paedophiles, who should have been considered for deportation at the time of their releases.

In a major embarrassment to the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair ahead of local elections next week, the Home Office said it had no idea where the vast majority of the 1,023 convicted criminals were.

They were released over the past seven years and only a handful of them had been traced.