§ Mrs. Haymanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why an Italian citizen, Mr. Guisseppi Santacroce, who was conditionally discharged for an offence in August and recommended for deportation, was still in Ashford Remand Centre on 18th November.
§ Dr. SummerskillOn 16th August, Mr. Santacroce was convicted of theft and causing criminal damage and recommended for deportation. As my hon. Friend knows, in such cases we need to have full information about the offence and the circumstances of the offender before deciding whether or not to act on the court's recommendation. This information was not available in full until 8th September. It was then decided to allow Mr. Santacroce to leave the United Kingdom by supervised departure, and on 13th September the police were asked to make the arrangements. It was necessary to obtain a fresh travel document from the Italian authorities, and this was issued on 17th October. Arrangements were then made for his departure at the end of the month.
However, during his stay in prison Mr. Santacroce showed increasing tendencies to violence, including making three assaults on another prisoner, and it was decided that supervised departure was no longer appropriate. My right hon. Friend made a deportation order against Mr. Santacroce on 11th November. He did not appeal against removal to the country named in the removal directions and he was deported under escort on 26th November.