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Killer of headteacher still poses 'a genuine and present risk'
Last updated at 17:52pm on 21.08.07The killer of headteacher Philip Lawrence poses a "genuine and present risk" to the public according to official papers handed to the courts by the Home Office, it was revealed tonight.
Learco Chindamo has been rated as the highest level of risk because of his notoriety, and would also need to be excluded from certain parts of the country, the documents revealed.
The details emerged in the written judgment from an immigration tribunal which yesterday ruled Chindamo, who was 15 at the time of the appalling crime, should be allowed to stay in Britain at the end of his prison sentence.
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The headmaster's widow: Frances Lawrence and right, the Mafia hitman's son Learco Chindamo
The Lawrence children with their father before he was brutally murdered outside his school
Home Office officials submitted a letter to the tribunal which showed Chindamo had "overacted" to situations on several occasions, and predicted it would be extremely difficult to find him somewhere to live on release.
"It was considered that he posed a continuing risk to the public and that his offences were so serious that he represents a genuine and present and sufficiently serious threat to the public in principle as to justify his deportation," the judgment said of the Home Office's case.
It added that while it was unlikely that Chindamo would reoffend, he had been ranked as a high risk under the multi-agency public protection arrangements.
However, this high-risk ranking was largely due to the media interest he would receive on release and the risk of a "backlash", it added.
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Frances Lawrence said she was 'devastated and demoralised'
Chindamo's defence team said there was no evidence their client, now aged 26, was a serious and present threat, noting that reports on him had been "very positive" and the Parole Board had been "very impressed".
The document's details will throw a new light on the case, which Conservative leader David Cameron said today should lead to the abolition of the Human Rights Act.
Mr Cameron said the Act should be replaced with a British Bill of Rights, which would clearly set out rights and responsibilities.
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Teacher Philip Lawrence died defending a pupil
He said: "The problem for this Government is that the Human Rights Act is their legislation and they appear to be blind to its failings.
"It is a glaring example of what is going wrong in our country. What about the rights of Mrs Lawrence?
"We ought to abolish the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights that we can write ourselves that sets out clearly our rights and responsibilities."
Mr Lawrence was stabbed to death in an attack outside St George's Roman Catholic School in Maida Vale, west London, in December 1995, while trying to protect a 13-year-old pupil.
A gang of 12 youths led by Chindamo went to attack the pupil, who had quarrelled with a boy of Filipino origin.
Chindamo, whose mother is Filipino and father Italian, punched and stabbed father of four Mr Lawrence, who died the same evening.
Mr Lawrence's widow said she had always been given the impression that the killer would be deported at the end of his sentence.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Frances Lawrence said: "In Article 2 of the Human Rights Act my husband had the right to life.
"Chindamo destroyed that right yet he has used the legal process to enable him to live as described in Article 8.
"The Act works in his best interest. It is ill-equipped to work in my family or for people in my situation. That seems to me a major conundrum."
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has offered to meet Mrs Lawrence to discuss the case.
Asked about Mrs Lawrence's comments that she was under the impression that Chindamo would be deported, Mr Straw told the BBC: "She is entirely right to say that was her expectation - it was mine too."
"What I have been able to glean is that it is very probable that most of this issue arises not from the Human Rights Act but from European Union law," he added.
"We are very vigorously appealing this. This was not our expectation that this man would be open to live in this country upon his release."
Reader views (38)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
This country has truly lost the plot. Chindamo should have just been left to rot in jail for the rest of his life. He doesn't deserve the slightest compassion whatsoever.
- Shirley, London
I was the victim of an attempted rape by a Sierra Leonine national who also was not deported on the grounds that as he came over to the UK aged 7 "he does not have an affiliation with any other county". The Asylum and Immigration judge ruled that he must be allowed to remain in the UK under Article 8 of the ECHR.
However article 8 has exceptions "except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. "
So why are these flawed judgements allowed. Protecting the public is the first duty of any government. I look to this Government to take action on this issue immediately.
My heartfelt understanding and sympathy to Mrs Lawrence and her family who must be going through turmoil over this.
- Gabrielle Browne, London, England
The Parole Board should ensure that this murderer rots in jail for another 10-20 yrs at least - by that time we will be rid of the Human Rights Act. I, for one, will only vote for the party that promises to repeal it.
- Ec, London
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