Jaswinder Singh, 60, battered Harbhajan Singh, 31, a homeless man to death with an iron bar last September despite authorities trying to throw him out of the country since 2002. Singh had carried out three violent attacks since then but managed to avoid being sent home.
He had dodged action being taken by adopting a series of aliases and bogus dates of birth as well as claiming he was from Pakistan. Singh was one of around 1,000 foreign prisoners released without consideration for deportation, in a scandal that led former Home Secretary John Reid to describe Britain's immigration system as "not fit for purpose" in May 2006.
Yet Singh, of Edmonton, north London, was still free to carry out a deadly attack on Harbhajan Singh, 31, near a cemetery in Ilford last year. During the attack on Harbhajan Singh near a cemetery in Ilford, Jaswinder also injured two other men, Git Singh, 58, and Harteerth Singh, 43.
He was yesterday found guilty of murder and two counts of attempted murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years. He will not be eligible for parole until he is 84.
Judge Richard Hone said: "You are obviously a man with a tendency to explosive and eruptive violence, quite disproportionate to any perceived provocation." Singh was also wanted by German authorities after attacking his former partner in 2000.
In 2004 he was jailed in Britain for an offence of grievous bodily harm with intent while in 2006 he was given another custodial sentence for actual bodily harm, and in 2010 imprisoned again for common assault. The police said each time he was imprisoned his deportation process was stopped and had to be started again on his release.
Detective Sergeant Lesley O'Connell said: "Since 2002 they have been trying to get him out of the country, albeit that he has committed serious assaults in this country."
