Don't come here and commit crime!

Expressing frustration at delays of six months and longer to obtain criminal records from Romanian authorities, on 17 December 2013, senior Judge, Sean Morris, refused to sentence a Romanian woman who was part of a gang that stole PINs and bank cards from elderly men using cash machines.

He said Nicoleta Bala could ‘languish’ in prison until he had been apprised of her previous convictions and added:

"I do not deal with foreign criminals without knowing whether they have been in trouble in their own country... If... people come over here from Romania to commit crime they cannot complain... I will not deal with these people until I have full knowledge about their background. The lesson is: don’t come here and commit crime."

Regarding the criminal impact of the expected arrivals from Romania and Bulgaria after the January deadline, the judge also said:

"The borders are like a sieve... I don’t know if we are going to have a lot of new customers. This is something that the police at a senior level, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice are going to have to take up."

The Mail's Jack Doyle added:

"Bala... admitted two distraction thefts in Grantham and Stoke on Trent in November 2008, only months after entering Britain using a Romanian ID card. After committing the crimes she left the country but was arrested on her return...  

Last week it emerged that Romanians are seven times more likely to be arrested in London in Britons. They account for more than 11 per cent of all foreign offenders, despite making up just a tiny proportion of residents." 

A British judge on the side of the British? In Britain? Wonders will never cease!

Here's another cliché for you: 'The times they are a-changing!' 

The quicker the better, say I.