Alice Gross: How European Union countries are fighting tighter criminal records checks at our border

A British-led scheme to boost the amount of information shared about criminals who move across borders has faced widespread opposition from other European Union countries, The Telegraph can disclose.

Arnis Zalkalns, 41, who served seven years for murdering his wife in Latvia before moving to London, was last week named as the prime suspect in the disappearance of schoolgirl Alice Gross.

An international project was launched in London by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, in June last year to improve the way information is shared across the EU, but an official report discloses it has encountered “significant barriers”.

In a stark admission, an internal document said officials in some countries do not regard offenders who have moved across borders as a “huge problem”.

A succession of serious crimes including murder, rape and paedophilia have been committed in Britain by offenders who came here despite having criminal records in their home countries.

The two-year project known as SOMEC – or Serious Offending by Mobile European Criminals - which is funded by the European Commission found serious violent and sexual offenders were becoming “increasingly mobile” across international borders.

In some cases, violent criminals would go to live in a different country because they were less likely to face “formal scrutiny and oversight of their actions”, it said.

An internal update, from a project meeting held in Barcelona last October, warned: “Issue raised that many in offender management don’t regard mobile offenders as a huge problem as of present. Though this may come more to the forefront in coming years.”

Another SOMEC report, by researcher Sarah Hilder of De Montfort University in Leicester, said: “Political acceptance and will to accept changes in information exchange and management of serious mobile violent or sexual offenders across member states may vary.”

There were higher levels of privacy given to citizens of some other European countries, particularly those concerned about “oppressive government surveillance”, it said.

“Serious sexual and violent offenders are becoming increasingly mobile, and in some cases are actively seeking crime opportunities and decreased regulation, avoiding any formal scrutiny and oversight of their actions by travelling to other member states and other non EU countries,” it went on.

The study said it had identified “significant barriers” to any improvements which may be attempted.

They included “residual opposition” in some member states and “residual concerns within member states over privacy”.

It added that some countries were “resistant” to introducing risk assessments – a crucial part of the way Britain keeps tabs on serious criminals.

The study concluded there had been some improvements on sharing information about convicted criminals in recent years but it had been done in an “incremental and non-systematic way”.

The use of “Green Notices” through Interpol – which warn about criminals who have offended and are likely to commit new crimes – had been used well to tackle sexual or violent offenders heading from Europe to south-east Asia. But “the travel of such offenders within the EU receives far less scrutiny”, it said.

The report concluded, however, that the problems were “not necessarily insurmountable”.

It came as the Home Office refused to disclose how many foreign offenders came to Britain after being convicted of a serious crime in another EU country.

A Home Office spokesman said: “On the number of individuals flagged and where they come from, this is not information in the public domain.”

He added: "The onus for flagging such a threat lies with the authorities in their home country and the UK is leading the way in Europe on improving the exchange of information in cases involving dangerous criminals.

"Both the UK and Latvian governments have recognised the lack of information sharing at EU level as being a problem which is why Ministers from both countries have urged other member states to take greater action.”

However, Harry Fletcher, the probation expert and director of Digital-Trust, which combats online crime, estimated there may be as many as 500 foreign serious criminals in Britain from eastern European countries alone.