According to reports by the Daily Mail, the family of a murder victim is outraged after discovering her killer was an illegal immigrant who evaded deportation from the UK for over two decades.
Daily Mail reported that Obert Moyo, 46, from Zimbabwe, stabbed his former partner Perseverance Ncube, 35, through the heart with a foot-long meat skewer in front of her children aged 10 and 12 last November. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 27 years last week.
However, it has now emerged that Moyo had overstayed his visa in the early 2000s but was never deported, despite committing a string of violent crimes against women over the following years.
Ms Ncube’s sister, Christine Chiriseri, 28, said the family only learned Moyo was an illegal immigrant after his arrest for the horrific murder in Salford.
“I was very angry and upset because all of this tragedy could have been avoided if people had done their jobs properly,” she said. “We all felt very let down by the Home Office and the people who should have made sure he was deported.”
Detective Sergeant Fiona Manning stated: “Percy’s family deserves answers as to why this man…was allowed to remain in this country illegally. Had Moyo been deported, Percy’s children would still have a mother.”
The court heard that Moyo had been convicted of harassing women in 2007 and 2009, with the latter resulting in a six-month jail sentence.
In 2013, he was imprisoned for 10 years with an extended licence for a vicious attack on another ex-partner in Brighton, where he broke into her home armed with knives and a blowtorch.
Despite being an “overstayer” with no legal right to remain, the Home Office failed to deport Moyo upon his release and instead fitted him with a tag.
He then began a relationship with Ms Ncube, an Avon lady and single mother, without informing probation as required. On November 10th last year, Moyo forced his way into her home and brutally murdered her.
The Home Office has faced heavy criticism over its failure to deport foreign criminals, with the latest figures showing only around 6,000 were removed from the UK in 2023 despite over 30,000 being detained.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government is doing everything possible to reduce legal challenges and to increase the numbers of foreign national offenders being removed.”
However, this latest case has reignited anger over the department’s repeated failures to protect the public from violent criminals who have no right to be in the country.
Ms Chiriseri, who is now caring for her sister’s children, said: “I am reeling over everything that has happened. I still feel very angry. It was a short-term relationship and it cost my sister her life.”
With increasing numbers of illegal boat arrivals putting further strain on the UK’s embattled immigration system, this tragic case underscores the urgent need for reform to prevent such devastating lapses from occurring again.
