A CONVICTED rapist, drug smuggler and burglar from Lithuania will not be deported for burgling an Ebbw Vale couple's home.

Valdas Rimaitis, 35, of no fixed abode, was free to come into the UK, despite his lengthy previous convictions, and continue to commit crimes.

Rimaitis was given sentences totalling 13 years in prison for drug smuggling, rape and robbery in his home country of Lithuania between 1997 and 2004.

He was then allowed into the UK and has appeared in London courts five times since February, four times for theft and was sentenced to six weeks in prison for sexual assault in May.

He has now appeared at Newport Crown court for burgling the home of Bernard and Janice Pratt at High Street, Ebbw Vale on June 4.

Prosecutor John Warren said Gwent Police received a call on June 4 from Charlotte Evans of Church Crescent, Ebbw Vale.

Miss Evans said Rimaitis walked into her house unannounced at 1.30pm carrying leaflets for a Ukrainian charity before she challenged him and he left.

She was one of a number of people to call Gwent Police that afternoon, giving a description of Rimaitis.

He was spotted by police at Drysiog Street, Ebbw Vale. Rimaitis told officers that he was delivering leaflets for a Ukranian charity and had entered houses on four occasions to fill a water bottle.

His rucksack was searched and it contained a purse, with two Lloyds bank cards in it, belonging to the Pratts.

Judge Mark Furness sentenced Rimaitis 48 weeks in custody, ordered to pay £250 costs and £100 compensation.

However, as there was no order for Rimaitis to be deported, he will serve his sentence in the UK and be released.

Mr and Mrs Pratt are calling for him to be sent home.

“We just let people in too easily. If they have money in the bank, work and a trade, then okay. But people like him are of no benefit.

"People like him shouldn't be free to walk around here,” said 57-year-old Mr Pratt.

Mrs Pratt, 53, cried non-stop after the burglary and could not stop shaking: “I felt unsafe in my home for a long time and we had to install alarms."

A UK Border Agency spokesman explained that some Eastern European countries do not share intelligence when it comes to convictions.

When someone enters the UK, a decision is made on the information available to the agency.

If countries do not identify offenders and tell the agency so the information can be stored, it will not be flagged up when they use their passports to enter the country and they will be free to come in because they are part of the European Union.

If someone is convicted of an offence in this country, it is down to the police, prisons or court to notify the agency and then the matter would be investigated, If information that Rimaitis was a convicted rapist in Lithuania had been passed on, then an assessment as to whether he would be a risk in this country would be carried out before a decision is made to allow him in.