Deportation case man arrested

A man wanted in connection with attempted murder and the sexual assault of a teenage girl, allegedly committed after he was recommended for deportation, has been arrested.

Humberside Police confirmed that Iraqi Kurd Caliph Ali Asmar, 25, was detained in central Hull on Wednesday evening along with four other men.

Mr Asmar will be questioned over a stabbing in Hull on Good Friday, as well as the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in March.

The arrest comes as the hunt for hundreds of foreign criminals, released over the past seven years without being considered for deportation, continues.

On Wednesday, Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted that around half of the 79 most serious offenders had still not been traced. Mr Clarke told the Commons that 574 of the 1,023 cases were now being considered for deportation, of which 554 had been completed and 446 were to be deported.

He also announced plans to publish a consultation paper by the end of the month to set up a new system based on a "presumption of deportation", saying "The clear presumption should be that deportation will follow unless there are special circumstances why it cannot."

It also emerged yesterday that Mustaf Jama, who is suspected of involvement in the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford last November, had been considered for deportation, but it was decided not to send him back to his native country of Somalia.

(KMcA)