Anger over pounds 8m paid to criminal; Ex-convict deported immigrants.

Byline: BY LIAM CHRISTOPHER Daily Post Correspondent

THE Home Office paid millions of pounds to a firm run by a former police officer convicted of arranging a murder in Merseyside.

Newspaper reports yesterday said that ITA (Overseas Escorts), run by Mark Ayres, was paid pounds 8m over two years for handling the deportation of illegal immigrants.

The Home Office confirmed ITA was on the UK Border Agency's approved list of contractors.

Critics told the newspaper that even a cursory check would reveal that Ayres, 46, changed his name after leaving jail.

As Mark Andrew Heaver, he was sentenced to 13 years in jail for arranging for two men to stab and beat 33-year-old Michael Donovan to death at his Merseyside home while his wife and children slept upstairs.

The killers, who were never caught, left heroin behind to give the impression the April, 1994, murder was drug-related. The following year, Liverpool Crown Court heard that Ayres had wanted sole control of the potentially-lucrative career of a promising boxer Mr Donovan was managing.

The prosecution told Liverpool Crown Court Heaver was "a greedy man" who would use virtually any opportunity to make money.

A national newspaper reported that Ayres, who joined Thames Valley Police from school but left after only 18 months, founded ITA in January, 2006. It was soon awarded a Home Office Illegal Immigrant Deportation Escorting contract.

The firm, which had 50 staff, handled around 120 illegal immigrants a month, earning pounds 2,000 a time.

Two escorts and a driver would collect the immigrant from a deportation centre and take him or her to the airport. Whitehall officials accept the work is highly sensitive and involves those who may be determined to escape.

But the Mail says Criminal Records Bureau checks were only ran on the 50 guards and did not investigate the background of the firm's bosses, who had no contact with immigrants.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "ITA were on the UKBA approved list for the supply of overseas escorts between January, 2006, and February, 2008.

"They have now ceased trading and we no longer work with them.

A place on the approval list does not guarantee any volume of business. The UKBA expects the highest standard of professional integrity from its service providers and has a thorough vetting process in place to ensure UKBA policies are carried out efficiently and professionally."

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "Are they (the UKBA) satisfied their vetting procedures pose no risk?"

The newspaper said the news "disgusted" the family of murder victim Mr Donovan.

His brother, Cyril, 49, said: "Heads should roll over this. It is disgusting. Heaver always dressed the part and drove top-of-therange cars, so it is no surprise to me that he has conned the Government as well."

CAPTION(S):

It is claimed the Liverpool-based Criminal Records Bureau only checked out 50 guards and did not investigate the background of the firm's bosses