HOMICIDE FIGURES

One out of every five killers is an immigrant. Up to a fifth of killers in England and Wales are foreign, police figures released in 2009 suggest. Out of 371 individuals accused or convicted of murder or manslaughter last year, 79 were from abroad - more than 21 per cent.

Foreign immigrants make up only around a tenth of the UK population, meaning they are statistically twice as likely as native Britons to be charged with or found guilty of an illegal killing.

In London, almost 40 per cent of those in such cases in the past year were from overseas, or of unknown origin.

Opposition critics said the findings reflected the Government's failure to deport foreign criminals, and the ease with which offenders from abroad can slip through border controls. 

The most common nationality for foreigners involved in murder and manslaughter cases was Polish, followed by Nepalese, Lithuanian, Somalian and Sri Lankan.

Around half the police forces across England and Wales provided data under the Freedom of Information Act, revealing strong regional differences.

The highest figures were in London where in the year to April 2009, 93 of the 233 people accused or convicted of murder and manslaughter were either non-British or from unknown backgrounds.

In West Mercia, five out of 22 were foreigners - 23 per cent - from Lithuania, Poland, and the Republic of Ireland. Nottinghamshire showed the same proportion, with three out of 13 cases.

But some forces - including Cheshire, Humberside, Hampshire, and Merseyside - recorded no cases with foreign killers. The figures may be an underestimate as 11 out 30 forces which responded claimed they did not record nationalities of either killers or murder victims, and others had gaps in the information.

As foreign suspects are typically harder to identify and trace, meaning that crimes are less likely to be solved, the real proportion could be significantly higher.

The figures showed foreigners were also more likely to be victims of murder or manslaughter, accounting for 20 per cent of all those killed in England and Wales in 2007-8, and 13 per cent last year.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: 'The Government seem to have completely failed to get to grips with foreign nationals' crime in the UK.

'These figures underline the scale of the problem, but we know the Government are simply failing to deport offenders in the way they should be.'

Detective Chief Inspector Murray Duffin, of the Scotland Yard Extradition and Intelligence Unit, warn: 'Britain is becoming a magnet for increasing numbers of criminals from the former Eastern block countries which are now members of the EU.' 

STEVEN WRIGHT

The Ipswich serial murders took place between 30 October and 10 December 2006 when the bodies of five murdered women were discovered at different locations near Ipswich. All the victims were prostitutes from the area. Their bodies were discovered naked, but there was no sign of sexual assault. Two of the victims, Anneli Alderton and Paula Clennell were confirmed to have been killed by asphyxiation. A cause of death for the other victims, Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol and Annette Nicholls, was not established.

Suffolk Police linked the killings and launched a murder investigation codenamed Operation Sumac. Due to the size of the investigation police officers were drafted from several other police forces. Two arrests were made in connection with the murders. The first suspect, who was never officially named by police, was released without charge. Forklift truck driver Steven Gerald James Wright, then aged 48, was arrested on suspicion of murder on 19 December 2006 and charged with the murders of all five women on 21 December.

Wright was remanded in custody and his trial began on 14 January 2008 at Ipswich Crown Court. Wright pleaded not guilty to the charges, although he admitted having sex with all five victims, and that he had been using prostitutes since the 1980s. DNA and fibre evidence was presented to the court that linked Wright to the victims. He was found guilty of all five murders on 21 February 2008 and was sentenced the following day to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released from prison.

On 19 March 2008, it was announced that Wright would be lodging an appeal against his five convictions for murder, as well as the trial judge's recommendation that his life sentence should mean life. Amongst other things, Wright has claimed that the trial should not have been held in Ipswich, and that the evidence against him was not sufficient proof of his guilt, so giving him grounds for an appeal. Wright was reported to have written to the court of appeal "All five women were stripped naked of clothing/jewellery/phones/bags and no evidence was found in my house or car." Wright had also applied to receive a new solicitor.

The news of his planned appeal sparked outrage among those affected by his crimes, including Brian Adams, father of victim Gemma Adams, who remains convinced of Wright's guilt and urged him to instead "come clean and stop wasting everyone's time". This first appeal was rejected in July 2008.

On 15 July 2008, it was announced that Steve Wright had renewed his appeal against convictions, and it would be considered by three judges in an open court hearing, the Royal Courts of Justice said. In February 2009, it was reported that Wright had dropped this bid to appeal against the convictions, though some of his family hoped to convince the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to take the case on.