Birmingham double murder: Khalid Mahmood slams Borders Agency over Rimvydas Liorancas being in the country to kill Carole and Avtar Kolar

Feb 12 2012 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

A BIRMINGHAM MP has accused the Borders Agency of having ‘blood on its hands’ for letting a Lithuanian murder suspect enter Britain without a passport.

Career criminal Rimvydas Liorancas hung himself in prison after he was charged with the murder of Handsworth Wood couple Carole and Avtar Kolar, who were brutally beaten to death.

Last night Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr, hit out at Immigration Minister Damien Green for failing to answer his questions about how Liorancas got into the country.

The 37-year-old crook killed himself in his cell at Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes where he was on remand – something Mr Green seemed unaware of when quizzed by the MP.

He told Mr Mahmood he was unable to respond to his enquiries because of the murder investigation involving Liorancas.

“I simply asked how Liorancas could ever have got into the country,” Mr Mahmood told the Sunday Mercury.

“I have received an astounding response from Damien Green, the Immigration Minister.

“He has written to me and told me there is nothing he can tell me about how he got into Britain without a passport because the murder investigation concerning Mr Liorancas is ongoing.

“Except it isn’t, is it? Because he’s dead.

“I am utterly astounded by the incompetence of this response. It seems clear to me that Mr Green is simply hiding behind the skirt tails of the law because he does not want to admit the terrible failings of the Border Agency in this country.”

He continued: “Quite simply, the Kolars would not have been killed if border officials had done their jobs properly. How on earth did this man, with a known criminal record and outstanding warrants across Europe, get into Britain without a passport? It beggars belief.

“I have lost two law-abiding, hard-working and decent members of my constituency, and all because of the lax attitude of Border Agency officials.