Rapist and violent armed robber among 17 convicts deported to Jamaica – but 25 others remain in UK
A RAPIST and an armed robber were among the 17 serious foreign criminals deported to Jamaica yesterday - but 25 others remain in the UK.
The Sun Online can reveal Lorenzo Gibbs, jailed for 11 years for rape and Linton Murray, jailed for burglary and firearms offences, were both deported yesterday.
Those two and the other 15 who were deported had amassed jail sentences of 75 years in total, No10 said.
However the courts yesterday blocked the deportation of 25 other foreign criminals to Kingston because of a three-day mobile phone outage.
In a move that sparked fury in Downing Street yesterday, the Court of Appeal decided to overturn the Government's decision to deport them just hours before the flight took off.
They said problems with an O2 signal last month prevented the group from contacting lawyers.
PM Boris Johnson said he bitterly regretted the decision and would lodge an appeal.
No10 argued that the offenders had access to other means of communication.
MOUNTING ANGER
Downing Street said the decision to stop the criminals boarding the flight "makes the case perfectly" for the PM's vow to rip-up the judicial review process to ensure it is "not abused" for political reasons.
Of the 25 who were not deported, one was convicted for manslaughter, two for rape or sexual offences, seven for violent offences and one for firearms offences.
But campaigners pointed out some of the criminals were sentenced for one-time drug offences when they were young. Among them was Randee Hall, 21, who was convicted in 2018 of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and sentenced to four years. He has lived in Britain since he was two.
Amid furious scenes in Downing Street, sources said the Court of Appeal's decision to intervene to stop serious criminals being deported "should be the case that brings the judicial review regime tumbling down."
Mr Johnson's chief aide, Dominic Cummings, said the decision was a "perfect symbol of the British state's dysfunction".
According to ITV, Mr Cummings told No 10 officials that support for the ruling to delay deportation by some MPs showed they "haven't understood what the last few years has been about".
He added: "The country outside London is horrified."
There are fears in government the remaining offenders will win bail within days and be released.
They are in immigration removal centres or prisons but can be held only if there is a realistic prospect of removal.
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In a personal attack on Mr Johnson today, Jeremy Corbyn questioned whether the PM could have been deported to the United States because he "dabbled in class A drugs" and "conspired" to beat up a journalist.
The Labour leader provoked a furious reaction from the Conservative benches after asking the Prime Minister if there is "one rule for young black boys from the Caribbean and another for white blond boys from the United States".
He claimed the government had "learned nothing" from the 2018 Windrush scandal that saw people born British subjects wrongly deported or threatened with removal.
New York-born Mr Johnson said he believed Mr Corbyn had demeaned himself and had muddled the Windrush generation with what he described as foreign national offenders being deported to Jamaica.
Campaigners opposed to the deportations protested in Parliament Square last night.
A No10 spokesman said: "We make no apology whatsoever for seeking to remove serious foreign national offenders."
