The latest bombshell in the foreign prisoners fiasco sparked a massive row as Tories accused Home Secretary John Reid of trying to hush it up.

He knew about the terrifying development more than a WEEK ago. But the news was tucked away in a written statement he slipped out to MPs on Tuesday.

Shocked Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said those freed had been locked up because they were a “serious risk to the public.”

A special police taskforce has been ordered to track down a list of 500 foreign-born patients who had been held in mental hospitals.

Of those, at least 250 SHOULD have been considered for deportation but were not.

Many of the rest MAY have faced being kicked out of Britain — depending on their immigration status.

Last night the Home Office insisted Dr Reid did make the situation clear to MPs.

“Only those individuals identified as foreign nationals will be considered for deportation in the normal way.”

Mr Reid took over as Home Secretary a fortnight ago after Charles Clarke was axed over the foreign prisoners scandal.

The new Home Secretary pledged to sort the shambles and keep the public informed.But THIS was how he informed MPs of the latest shock:

Historically there have never been systematic arrangements in place for collecting information on the nationality of mentally disordered offenders, referring them to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and considering them for deportation.

This is a hugely difficult group to deal with. But I have tasked officials to construct arrangements for considering deportation where appropriate for people in this group taking account of their very specific circumstances.

His Tory opposite number Mr Davis insisted: “This is just not good enough. We are talking about the public’s safety.

“The reason these prisoners are in a maximum-security institution is because they are considered to be a serious risk to the public.

“It is absolutely essential that people should know about it as a matter of urgency.

“It is the responsibility of the Home Secretary to be fully open with the public with these matters. To simply allude to the facts in the way that John Reid has done is not acceptable.”

Even now only a few hundred have been rounded up — and some have since been re-released on bail.

But until now, the alarm had not been raised that hundreds were on the loose from maximum-security mental hospitals.

The dangerous prisoners were all released on schedule after getting the all-clear from doctors. But they should have been automatically considered for deportation.

But health officials admitted last night they do not keep specific records of which prisoners are foreigners.

Last night the Home Office and Department of Health were locked in a battle over who was responsible.

MPs with the hospitals in their constituencies were furious. Tory Patrick Mercer, whose seat covers Rampton, said: “I can’t imagine there being any more dangerous bungling from the Home Office than this news.”

Tory Andrew Mackay, whose Bracknell seat includes Broadmoor, said: “This is a justifiable concern to the local community and the nation as a whole.”

The Sun Online - Sun Says Reid on rack

Reid on rack

JOHN REID made a huge mistake by not revealing that hundreds of foreign madmen had been freed on to our streets when they should have been deported.

His first responsibility as Home Secretary is the safety of the public, not the reputation of the Labour government.

The maniacs are believed to include murderers, rapists and other sex offenders.

It was Mr Reid’s duty to inform us the moment he learned the truth.

Instead he gave a statement to Parliament that avoided spelling out the full facts.

The people of Britain were already sick of the lies, spin, chaos and incompetence which have become the hallmark of the Home Office.

When Mr Reid was made Home Secretary three weeks ago he was viewed as a breath of fresh air.

He had everyone’s support in his mission to root out the idiots who allowed outrageous scandals on terrorism, crime and immigration.

These blunders resulted in REAL people being murdered, raped and robbed by criminals who should have been booted out or locked up.

If Mr Reid is shown to be part of a new cover up then confidence in him will be destroyed.

On top of all this comes the farcical raid by the Prison Service on its own open prison in Sussex.

Five hundred officers descended on the jail at dawn to cart away 141 foreign prisoners after 11 of them legged it last week.

The officers obviously feared a full scale disturbance.

Which begs the question:

If the prisoners were that dangerous, and likely to flee, why were they in an open prison in the first place?

BBC NEWS UK UK Politics Reid attacked in new releases row

Reid attacked in new releases row

John Reid has admitted to another Home Office mistake

The home secretary is under fire amid claims that many foreign offenders have been freed from secure hospitals without deportation being considered.

The Sun says police are seeking up to 500 former mental patients, including murderers, rapists and paedophiles.

John Reid has already ordered officials to find out how many foreigners have been kept in UK secure hospitals.

But the Conservatives said Mr Reid should have notified the police as soon as the error came to light.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "John Reid has known about this for over a week, and he should have been more forthcoming from the start.

This is a desperately serious problem for a Home Office already in crisis

Shadow home secretary David Davis

How the story emerged

Inmates moved from jail

"Given the fact that these criminals have been deemed mentally ill, presumably it is even harder to predict whether they continue to be a risk to the public.

"This is a matter of serious risk to the public.

"John Reid should have told us all and notified every chief of police in the country as soon as it became clear an error had been made.

"This is a desperately serious problem for a Home Office already in crisis."

Police are still seeking some of more than 1,019 foreigners freed from jail.

'Serious risk'

Updating MPs on the foreign prisoner crisis earlier this week, Mr Reid admitted no information on the nationality of offenders in mental institutions had been collected and none had been considered for deportation or even referred to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

The Sun says the offenders involved were held at the three secure hospitals in England - Broadmoor in Berkshire, Rampton in Nottinghamshire and Ashworth on Merseyside.

A Home Office spokesman said if any of the "mentally disordered offenders whose restrictions have ended" could now be "identified as foreign nationals" they would "be considered for deportation as soon as possible".

No-one is discharged from a secure hospital without their cases being considered by a mental health tribunal.

We ought to have independent statistics on immigration and asylum

Former minister Barbara Roche

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity Sane, said foreign offenders were "at especially high risk" of suffering "returning mental illness or disorder" because they were "dispossessed from their own countries" and less likely to have "close family or community support".

"Such patients should be monitored closely for their own support and protection and that of others... to ensure that after release they receive any treatment they may need to prevent relapse."

Independence

Former minister Barbara Roche said the Home Office should no longer compile figures.

Ms Roche, a former Home Office minister, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We ought to have independent statistics on immigration and asylum.

"We ought to have something like the Electoral Commission that can give advice to government and would give some independence to the whole range of statistics that we see coming out."

She said the Home Office had been "caught by surprise" because it focused on criminal justice policy rather than issues of immigration and asylum.

Ms Roche added that the system was being "increasingly overwhelmed" and said both the government and officials had to sort the problems out.

While there are good officials, other ones did not know what being in charge of a modern department was all about, she added.

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The secure hospitals that house dangerous criminals