An illegal immigrant who made a mockery of Britain’s deportation system has been jailed for life for battering a man to death

Jaswinder Singh, who was also wanted in Germany, had been in and out of prison and immigration detention centers for almost a decade. But he was repeatedly freed without being removed and even granted bail by immigration judges. At one stage, Singh was among 1,000 foreign criminals released from prison without being considered for deportation in a scandal which led to the sacking of Home Secretary Charles Clarke in 2006. In the latest case, Singh, 60, attacked homeless 31 year-old Harbarjan Singh and two friends with a metal bar as they slept in a cemetery in Ilford, Essex. The unemployed builder from India lay in wait for the victims to get revenge for being beaten up a week earlier. Singh, who used 14 aliases and gave false dates of birth, came to Britain illegally in 1995 from either Pakistan or India before moving to Germany. In 2000 he was jailed there for smashing a beer glass into the face of his then girlfriend and failing to pay maintenance for his son. After serving two-thirds of his sentence he was released on license. He was supposed to stay in Germany, but sneaked back to Britain. The British Border Agency found him and began trying to deport him in 2002, but the process was drawn out and in 2004, 2006 and 2010 he was jailed for grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and assault. Police said that each time he was imprisoned the deportation process was stopped and had to be started again on his release. Singh was jailed for life with a minimum of 24 years before parole for one count of murder and two of attempted murder.