There are more than 300 wrongly released foreign prisoners who have not been found, including a convicted murderer, John Reid, the home secretary, conceded today.

Three of the four murderers who were being sought have now been arrested, he said, and the majority of those that the police were still looking for now are "minor offenders".

Charles Clarke was sacked in May after it emerged more than 1,013 foreign prisoners had been freed without being considered for deportation.

New figures show only 129 of the 1,013 have so far been deported. The Commons’ all-party Home Affair Select Committee was told that in 216 of the cases, officials had decided not to deport the criminals, and in 745 were still being pursued.

In total, 43 have been deported in the last two months, the director-general of the Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Directorate said in a letter to the committee.

"About a third of them the police are still looking for but of those they are minor offenders in the main," Mr Reid said.

"And when I came here the last time, I think there was four very major offenders, at risk, out there, four murderers.

"As of last night there were two, and as of today there is one, because earlier this morning we detained one of the two remaining serious offenders. We arrested them this morning."

While he said that "we will try to deport them all" this would come down to decision in the courts.

Asked if he could guarantee there would not be a repeat of the foreign prisoners scandal, he said: "I can promise that I will do my best to give leadership. I can't promise to be the Wizard of Oz. I am not coming here today to say everything is perfect, I am saying progress is being made.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said despite what he has said John Reid had failed to get a grip on the fiasco.

"What is worse is that Dr Reid has blamed other failures in the Home Office such as the failure to remove failed asylum seekers on the fact he is supposedly dealing with the foreign prisoner crisis."

John Reid also hinted at a change in counter terrorism laws today - revealing he had so far seen no evidence which supported increasing the time police can detain terror suspects beyond 28 days.

His long awaited review of counter terrorism had been completed, he said, and handed to Tony Blair adding that the reaction to terrorism needed to be seamless.

"This is now a serious threat. It no longer is easily divided into foreign affairs, defence or domestic affairs," he said.

"It therefore needs a seamless, integrated, driven, politically overseen counter-terrorism strategy which places at its heart the recognition that above all this is a battle for ideas and values.

"Some of what I've put to the Prime Minister goes way beyond legislation."

He added that proposals on new terrorism measures could be expected in the New Year.

During an appearance before the same committee in May, Mr Reid admitted his own department was "not fit for purpose" and complained he sometimes felt the need to "defend the indefensible."

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