A FAILED asylum seeker who killed a former Royal Marines commando in a hit-and-run crash has escaped deportation because his crime is not considered serious enough by the Home Office.

Jean Renee Mukadi was jailed for four months after fatally injuring Simon Lawrence while driving without a licence or insurance.

Despite having his asylum claim rejected three times previously, Mukadi, 33, cannot be sent back to his native Democratic Republic of Congo because his sentence fell short of the minimum term that would qualify for automatic deportation.

Foreign offenders can only be kicked out of the country if they have been jailed for at least 12 months or if they have been convicted of serious gun or drug crimes.

The loophole means that Mukadi can remain in Britain while he fights a lengthy appeal against the decision to deny him asylum.

The Tories claim that about 3,000 foreign convicts are released back into society each year despite a pledge by Gordon Brown to deport all foreign lawbreakers. Within weeks of becoming prime minister, Brown said: “If you commit a crime, you will be deported. You play by the rules or you face the consequences.”

Alison Roberts, Lawrence’s sister, was so upset by the government’s refusal to consider Mukadi for deportation that she asked her MP, James Arbuthnot, to write to ministers seeking an explanation.

Meg Hillier, a Home Office minister, replied: “It appears that Mr Mukadi does not meet the criteria to be considered for deportation.

“I recognise that this may not be the information that Ms Roberts wishes to hear. However, I am afraid that the UK Border Agency can only deport foreign national offenders in line with published policy and legal powers.”

Last night Roberts, a former police officer, said: “This is ridiculous. Mukadi has had his asylum claim refused three times and in court it was said he had failed to get a driving licence seven times. So, by any estimation, he should not have been on the road.

“He showed what kind of a person he was when he drove off after killing Simon because he didn’t want to endanger his own interests. And yet apparently he cannot be deported.”

Lawrence, 55, served with the Royal Marines during the 1970s, including two tours of duty in Northern Ireland and a period on board the aircraft carrier Hermes alongside the Prince of Wales.

He was also a motorbike enthusiast and became a self-employed builder after leaving the armed forces.

Lawrence was on his motorbike in June last year when he was struck by Mukadi’s Toyota car in Harefield, west London. He suffered severe neck and head injuries that killed him instantly.

Mukadi drove off, but was traced and arrested several days later. He told police that he had failed to stop because he did not want to endanger a pending asylum appeal, and said he had not realised that he had hit a person.

At Uxbridge magistrates’ court Mukadi admitted charges of leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a licence and having no insurance. He was seen dabbing his eyes with a towel at the court hearing last October. Mukadi has already served more than half his sentence and it remains unclear this weekend whether he has been freed.

A woman at a house in Harin-gey, north London, which was supplied to magistrates as Mukadi’s home address, said she had never heard of him.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: “We will not tolerate those that come here and break our rules. Last year we exceeded the tough target set by government to remove 5,000 foreign lawbreakers. We are targeting the most harmful [offenders] first.”

Whitehall sources said that attempts to remove Mukadi from Britain via the asylum process were being pursued.

Additional reporting: Kevin Dowling

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