The number of foreign prisoners has risen in the last decade

The revelation comes in a letter to MPs from Lin Homer, head of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

The Home Office says the ex-inmate who committed murder could not have been deported in any case because of the current immigration rules.

Ms Homer also said 46 of the 1,013 prisoners involved in the crisis have now been deported.

Only one of the 43 "most serious" released offenders has been deported.

Of the rest, 25 are being detained, five have been bailed, and in four cases it has been decided not to deport them.

Two offenders have died since their release, leaving six of the most serious offenders who still appear to be at large (one of them is out of the country already).

Reoffenders

The foreign prisoners' affair caused Charles Clarke to be sacked as home secretary and has continued to trouble his successor, John Reid.

The murderer, who has also committed other offences since his release, would not have been deported, say Home Office officials.

That is because the peson is a long-term resident with Irish or Commonwealth citizenship.

In her letter, Ms Homer told Commons home affairs committee chairman John Denham that 48 of the most or more serious freed offenders have re-offended.

And in 16 cases they have committed a crime in the "more serious" category again.

Of the 189 "more" or "most serious cases" it has been decided to deport 137 of them, with four of them already removed, 68 detained and 15 on bail