POLICE are hunting for hundreds of foreign criminals who have been released from psychiatric hospitals without being considered for deportation, it was reported last night.

This group of inmates is in addition to the 1,109 prisoners who police are looking for after they were wrongly freed without being considered for deportation. David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said that the reason these inmates were in a maximum security hospital was because they were considered to be a “serious risk to the public”.

The Home Office last night admitted systems had not been in place to check the status of the inmates, who had been held in high-security hospitals.

According to reports in The Sun the group is comprised of about 500 patients, including murderers and sex offenders.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, knew of this group for at least a week, it has emerged.

He told MPs in a written statement: “Historically there have never been systematic arrangements in place for collecting information on the nationality of mentally disordered offenders, referring them to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and considering them for deportation.

“This is a hugely difficult group to deal with. But I have tasked officials to construct arrangements for considering deportation where appropriate for people in this group, taking account of their very specific circumstances.” The patients had all been released on schedule after being given the all-clear from doctors but many should have been automatically considered for deportation.The Home Office denied that Mr Reid had sought to cover up the releases and said he had “ identified the issue” in his written statement to MPs.

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