Such is the scale of the scandal that the Home Office initially chose to conceal the embarrassing failure from EU partners. “We need to know whether that decision not to immediately pass on criminal information has put public safety at risk,” she said. “This revelation of the failure to alert authorities on criminals and the cover-up afterwards casts serious doubts on the UK as a reliable partner. Officials believe the failure to alert EU partners is down to the police national computer, a database containing information on millions of convicted criminals and their jail records. The board was warned that an estimated 75,000 checks had not been done over the years.

Source: The Guardian January 14, 2020 13:07 UTC