UK: Foreign Criminals Escaping Community Sentences Because “Their English Isn’t Good Enough”

Express
March 2, 2014

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Foreign criminals are escaping having to do a Community Sentence as part of their punishment due to their poor grasp of English.

MIGRANT criminals are escaping community sentences, like unpaid gardening work, by claiming their English is too poor to understand health and safety instructions.

The practice was exposed yesterday when Romanian, Simon Calin, avoided justice because he was unable to follow basic advice, sparking fury among campaigners opposed to mass UK immigration.

It is standard procedure for probation service staff to tell offenders to wear protective gloves and to hold equipment properly to avoid injury.

But Calin, 37, who admitted stealing 54 bottles of whisky from a supermarket, was let off a community sentence when his lawyer told the court his English was so bad, he could not follow basic advice.

Romanian immigrant Simon Calin, 37, stole 54 bottles of Famous Grouse worth more than £1,000, magistrates were told
The practice came to light after Romanian immigrant Simon Calin stole 54 bottles of Famous Grouse worth more than £1,000 (in his first 9 days in the country) and was let off half of his punishment. The Probation Service advised the Magistrate that he could not be punished with a community sentence as his English was so bad he would not be able to understand that he needed to wear gloves when doing it.

The crook claimed the theft was his “first mistake” in nine days since arriving in the UK – 24 hours after borders opened to Romanian migrants.

He went to a Tesco store in Barrow, Cumbria, loaded his trolley with the Famous Grouse worth £1,108 and placed bags and paper on top in a bid to hide them.

But the married father was seen on CCTV piling the haul into a car – and arrested.

Furness Magistrates’ Court was told the probation service had assessed Calin for litter picking, fence painting or gardening, but had decided his English was too poor.

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