We'll no longer give foreign criminals free bed and board

They'll be sent home to serve jail sentences says minister

- BY ALEXANDER BROWN Assistant Political Editor

FOREIGN criminals will be booted out of Britain rather than get "free bed and board" in jails.

Ministers vowed to "send them packing" as soon as they are sentenced under radical reforms announced today.

The scheme is predicted to save taxpayers an average £54,000 per year per prison place.

And up to 3,000 convicts from abroad could be deported as soon as the law comes in.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Our message is clear if you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing"

Latest Ministry of Justice figures show that 10,000 freed foreign offenders committed 40,000 crimes, including murder, drug dealing and burglary, over a four-year period.

OVERCROWDED

Ministers are also desperate to free up space in overcrowded jails.

There are over 10,000 offenders from overseas locked up here, around 12% of all jailbirds. A quarter are awaiting trial or sentence.

Labour has boasted it is already kicking out more criminals from abroad than the Tories did.

Since they won power in July last year, almost 5,200 have been deported, a 14% increase on the previous 12 months.