BLACKBURN MP Jack Straw has revealed he was to meet with the family of murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence after the Government appealed a decision not to deport his killer.

The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal ruled on Monday that Learco Chindamo, an Italian who stabbed Lawrence to death outside a London school in 1995, should be allowed to stay in Britain after his release.

Frances Lawrence said she felt the Human Rights Act allowed her husband's murderer to "pick and choose" how to live his life, and had worked in his interests instead of her family's.

She said she was under the impression Chindamo would be deported. The justice secretary said: "It was my expectation too.

"It is probable most of this issue arises not from the Human Rights Act but from European Union law. We are very vigorously appealing this."

The courts dealt a blow to the government on Monday, when High Court judge Mr Justice Collins issued a ruling that could result in the release of dangerous inmates being held beyond their minimum term.

The judge said: "It must be recognised that the consequences are truly disastrous because I think it is inevitable that short-term lifers will have to be released, whether or not they remain a risk to the public."