Shipped back to Britain: Australians say career thug is a risk to the public - so they've sent him home to the UK... as a free manA career criminal who tried to murder a police officer in Australia was yesterday returned to Britain as a free man.
The taxpayer now faces spending tens of thousands providing housing and benefits to Clifford Tucker even though he has spent most of his life in Australia.
Officials there ruled that Tucker, who has committed a string of crimes over almost 30 years, posed an ‘unacceptable risk to the public’.
Tucker, 47, moved from Britain to Australia with his parents aged six, and has lived in Adelaide for 41 years.
But because he never obtained an Australian passport his visa was revoked over his criminal conduct after he returned home from a holiday to Bali. He committed his first crime aged only 11 and has served more than a decade in jail.
MPs said that, had Britain tried to deport an Australian guilty of similar offences, the Government would have been defeated by human rights law.
It sparked renewed criticism of Labour’s Human Rights Act and the scandal of foreign criminals living here. Britain’s courts have consistently allowed human rights appeals by foreign criminals because they have developed a ‘family life’.
Last year more than 200 foreign prisoners cheated deportation by using their ‘right to a family life’ in Britain.
Backbench Tory MP Dominic Raab said: ‘Most British citizens would understand the Australian government putting their public protection first. We need to change Labour’s Human Rights Act, to enable the UK to do the same.
‘Australia is bound by international human rights treaties, but it uses a bit of common sense when it comes to implementing them into domestic law.’
Tucker, an
, has no family in the UK and is entitled to full benefits, including housing support, paid for by taxpayers. It is thought he was interviewed by police on his arrival at Heathrow to assess whether he needed monitoring here.
Last night it was not clear where he was staying.
He was even forced to pay for the costs of his ticket back to Britain and the flight costs of two Australian immigration officials who escorted him.
Before he was deported, Tucker said he had ‘no idea’ what he was going to do in Britain. ‘I’ve got no money to support myself,’ he said.
He has three children aged 16, 15 and 12 in Adelaide. His mother, Terry Haighton, has set up a Facebook site to support his cause.
Tucker’s lawyer said sending him home was a ‘fundamental breach of human rights’.
Stephen Kenny said: ‘If he’s a ratbag, he’s one of our ratbags. He’s done the crimes and he’s paid for the crimes. This is quite an inhumane punishment, far beyond the treatment he deserves.’
But Australia’s immigration department said his bad character and criminal history meant he presented an ‘unacceptable risk of harm’ to the public. It said it took very seriously its role in protecting Australians.
A spokesman said: ‘All non-citizens must meet the character requirements of the Migration Act and if someone does not, they may have their visa cancelled and be removed from Australia.’
Tucker was given a 12-year jail sentence for attempted murder in 1983 after he walked into a police station and shot and seriously wounded a police officer.
Aged 31 he returned to the same station with a piece of wood and tried to smash the bullet-proof glass.
He went on holiday to Bali three years ago and on his return applied for a visa to re-enter the country – bringing him to the attention of the authorities.
Then, in 2009, after he was convicted of assault, he was told his visa would be cancelled.
His lawyers claimed he was being ‘punished twice’ for his crimes. But the decision by the immigration authorities was upheld by an immigration appeal tribunal and the country’s federal court
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