Madness of paying crooks to head home

The case of Dlear Ahmed is a stark reminder of everything that is wrong with Britain’s crazy immigration system.

Ahmed is the idiot who gave instructions to a blind man as he drove around Oldbury. By the grace of God, no-one was killed.

Now it emerges that Ahmed, an Iraqi, was already facing deportation at the time for motoring offences and possessing an offensive weapon.

Why was he at large? Why was this unwanted alien not held in custody and immediately deported after these first offences?

Why, for that matter, was he released on bail after being arrested with the blind driver?

Our ludicrous legal and immigration system seems to conspire to keep criminals in this country and on the streets.

In this case, the result is that Ahmed stayed long enough to commit offences so serious that he has now been jailed. It gets worse. Under plans announced by Home Secretary John Reid, Ahmed and foreign prisoners like him will now be offered up to £2,500 in “reintegration support” to return to their native land and serve their sentence there.

This is a crooks’ charter. In deeply corrupt countries such as Iraq, some of this cash would certainly be used to buy the offenders’ liberty.

Mr Reid hopes the money would be spent to help the offender set up a business. Having seen what a soft touch Britain is, who could blame the likes of Dlear Ahmed if they invested their loot in a lucrative little line such as people-smuggling?

And who could blame other Iraqis if they tried to follow Dlear Ahmed’s money-making example?

See England, commit a crime, get £2,500.

If Britain ever needed an advertising slogan to attract the world’s criminals, this one is perfect.

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Protection needed in the right places

ACROSS England, in the hallowed name of health and safety, councils are busy shaking conkers to the ground to protect children from falling out of trees and passers-by from missiles.

Meanwhile, we read in horror of the string of offences committed by two feral thugs in London before they stabbed Damilola Taylor to death.

Everyone knew this pair would one day commit a serious crime and yet nothing in the liberal, bleeding-heart armoury of supervision or curfews could prevent them killing this innocent little boy. And when one of their supporters screams abuse at the judge, he is not even locked up for contempt.

The system spends public money protecting us from conkers but allows psychopaths and serial offenders to stalk the streets.

Truly, the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

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