YEP Says: Thug should be made to serve 20-year jail term

SOME will contend that Latvian thug Alfz Baronins should have been deported back to his homeland on the day he was given a 20-year jail term for an savage attack which left his victim Robert Tuck disabled for life. Why, they argue, should UK taxpayers pay for the monster's detention?
Alfz BaroninsAlfz Baronins
Alfz Baronins

Yet this case must also be considered from the perspective of Mr Tuck and his distraught family. They have been told that there’s no guarantee that Baronins will serve his punishment in full if he is deported, a sentence which reflects the seriousness of the unprovoked attack in Leeds in April 2013 and the threat to public safety.

This cases exposes two shortcomings in policy. First, why is Baronins being considered for deportation when the Home Affairs Select Committee revealed last week the number of foreign criminals who were not returned to their homeland after completing their prison sentences in full? Second, the letter from the National Offender Management Service to Mr Tuck was not only written in a clumsy and careless manner bereft of empathy, but it placed the onus on his family to oppose the deportation decision while admitting that they do not know “how the prisoner’s sentence will be administered if transfer is agreed”.

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Perhaps Justice Secretary Michael Gove can offer an explanation before another mockery of justice occurs.

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