A Somali refugee wanted in connection with the murder of the policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky escaped deportation after serving a prison sentence for robbery because of Home Office policy.

The alleged involvement of Mustaf Jama in the murder of a police officer emerged as Charles Clarke battled to contain a separate scandal over the Home Office failure to consider foreign prisoners for deportation after they served their sentences.

Mr Jama, 26, has been named by police as a key suspect in the murder of PC Beshenivsky after an armed robbery in Bradford, West Yorkshire, last November.

The Times has learnt that Mr Jama had served half of a three-year prison sentence for robbery after he was convicted at Sheffield Crown Court. Home Office sources said tonight that his case was considered in spring last year, but a decision was taken not to deport him. Somalia is regarded as a dangerous country to which deportations cannot be carried out safely.

Mr Jama came to Britain from Somalia in 2000 and is believed to have claimed asylum and been granted leave to remain for seven years. That could have been revoked after he committed a serious crime.

He has been named by police as a dangerous fugitive and a substantial reward has been offered for his capture. He was believed to be living in North Kensington, London, at the time of the murder of PC Beshenivsky.

The Home Secretary is due to make a statement tomorrow updating MPs on the foreign prisoners row which both opposition parties have called for his resignation.

The Home Office says that 1,023 prisoners were released without being considered for deportation between 1999 and the end of March this year, including 288 released since the problem has been brought to the Government's attention last summer. They included three murderers, nine rapists and five paedophiles. Some 48 were from Somalia.

Although Mr Clarke has apologised for the fiasco he has refused to bow to opposition demands that he resign, saying that he should stay in office to sort out the problem.

PC Beshenivsky, 38, was shot dead answering a 999 call to a robbery at a travel agents in central Bradford on November 18.

The mother-of-five had been working for the police for just nine months when she was sent, unarmed, to investigate the raid yards from the city's main police station.

Five people have appeared in court accused of her murder. Yusuf Jama, 19, Mussaker Shah, 24, Raza Aslam, 24, Faisal Razzaq, 24, and Hassan Razzaq, 25, are also charged with robbery and firearms offences. All are due to go on trial in June.

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