The number of Romanian inmates rose from 454 in September 2011 to 624 last month

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As the total of UK-born inmates falls, the ranks of Eastern European prisoners are rising amid a crimewave by migrants exploiting European Union freedom of movement rules.

The figures obtained by the Sunday Express raise fresh fears about the impact on Britain when transitional controls on impoverished and crime ridden Bulgaria and Romania are removed next year.



According to the statistics, the number of Romanian inmates rose from 454 in September 2011 to 624 last month.



Fraudsters from the former Eastern bloc country are responsible for 92 per cent of all ATM crime in Britain, according to police figures.



One of the most notorious examples is Gheorge Banu who, in 2005 was the ringleader of a gang who used fake ATM machines to record financial details to take £643,000 from customers’ accounts. A judge had already asked for his deportation after a previous conviction.



The number of Polish prisoners, the largest East European group in British jails, has climbed 10 per cent to 807; enough to fill Belmarsh high security jail in London.

Of the eight mid and Eastern European nations represented in British prisons, including Albania and Slovakia, only Latvia saw its numbers go down.

Thanks to lax laws put in place by the last Labour government, it is all too easy for foreign nationals to find excuses to stay in the UK MP Priti Patel

British taxpayers are already paying more than £90million a year to fund the 2,400 Eastern Europeans currently in jail, at a rate of £38,000 per prisoner.



However the possible extra financial burden of economic migrants to the system has not been forecast by Government departments.



MP Priti Patel asked 16 ministries, including the Home Office, Department of Health, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice and the Treasury, what immigration has cost their department since 1997.



Each reported that estimates had not been calculated and “to do so would incur a disproportionate cost”.



MPs reacted with fury to the prison figures last night.



Conservative Dominic Raab said: “The rules of the game are fl awed. If you come to this country from within Europe and commit a crime serious enough to warrant jail, you should be put on the first plane home.”



The MP for Esher and Walton in Surrey added: “A toxic mix of EU and human rights law has warped all common sense. Any right of free movement should come with responsibilities, including obeying the law and being financially self-sufficient.”



Adding to the heavy financial burden is the cost of foreign nationals appealing against deportation. Offenders jailed for more than a year are automatically considered for deportation by the UK Border Agency.



Those on lesser prison terms are considered on a case-by-case basis.



Figures shown to the Sunday Express reveal that almost two out of three foreign national offenders who stayed in jail to fight deportation once they served their sentence last year are still in Britain. Over the past two years, almost 16,000 foreign national prisoners marked for deportation stayed in jail beyond their sentences.



Speaking last night Ms Patel, who commissioned the figures, said: “The British public expects dangerous and persistent foreign criminals to be kicked out of this country straight away rather than being able to stay at the taxpayers’ expense.



“Thanks to lax laws put in place by the last Labour government, it is all too easy for foreign nationals to find excuses to stay in the UK. Ministers need to get on with scrapping human rights laws which block deportations, cost taxpayers money and let foreign criminals remain a threat to the safety of the British public.”

Offenders jailed for over a year are automatically considered for deportation