JOHN REID was warned last night that he may have jeopardised the chances of deporting two foreign prisoners by watching the raids in which they were detained.

The Home Secretary wore a stab-proof vest to witness immigration officers and the Metropolitan Police force entry into four homes in North London. The raids, which began at 5am yesterday, resulted in the arrest of two of the 1,019 foreign prisoners not considered for deportation when they left jail.

A woman from Cameroon who had served a sentence for fraud was arrested in a raid attended by Mr Reid. Another was a “suspected ex-prisoner” also convicted for fraud. In separate raids in southeast London, which Mr Reid did not attend, a Jamaican released after serving a sentence for manslaughter and an Angolan freed after serving a sentence for deception were detained.

All four were in detention centres last night as deportation proceedings started.

But a lawyer who heads an immigration charity questioned the wisdom of Mr Reid attending the raids. Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, said: “It could put him in an embarrassing situation if he was present at a particular arrest of someone over whom he then has to make a disinterested decision about whether they should be deported.

“The Home Secretary should stand above operational matters, to be a disinterested party making decisions in a judicial manner.” David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “I hope that Mr Reid took legal advice before he decided to undertake his photo opportunity. It would be dreadful if, in pursuit of media coverage, he jeopardised the process for anybody who ought to be deported.”

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