The Home Secretary yesterday invited Battersea MP Marsha de Cordova to "apologise to the nation" for her role in preventing the deportation of a man who went on to commit murder.

Ernesto Elliot, originally from Jamaica, was due to board a Home Office charter flight back to his country of origin in December 2020 until a campaign backed by Labour MPs and a number of high-profile celebrities helped stop the deportation.

Elliot and his son Nico went on to murder 35-year-old Nathaniel Eyewu-Ago months later in June 2021.

A number of people witnessed the stabbing of Mr Eyewu-Ago who collapsed after being stabbed through the heart.

Taking questions in the House of Commons on the Illegal Migration Bill on March 20, 2023, Braverman highlighted Marsha de Cordova's involvement in the campaign.

Braverman said: "Whilst I have the honourable lady, may I take this chance, Mr. Speaker, to invite her to apologise to the nation.

"The honourable lady campaigned in 2020 to stop this government from deporting a serious foreign criminal.

"Thanks to her efforts, together with 70 opposition Labour MPs, they subsequently stopped this government from removing Ernesto Elliott, who then went on to murder in the UK."

Her remarks followed a question from the Battersea MP about the government's immigration plan which de Cordova dubbed "yet another example of the Tories scapegoating asylum seekers to distract from their incompetence".

De Cordova continued: "It will not be compatible with our legal obligations under the Equality and Human Rights Commission and it will leave asylum seekers, such as those from Iran, in limbo so that they will be deemed permanently inadmissible to our asylum system. We need more safe and legal routes now, not after the boat crossings have stopped, as we know that the Bill will never achieve that. Why will the Home Secretary not seek to provide safe and legal routes for everybody now?"

Their exchange was brought to a close by Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, on account of an appeal against Elliot's conviction.

After a trial at the Old Bailey in January, 2023, 45-year-old Elliot, who had been sent down for three years in 2018 for possession of a knife and an imitation firearm, was jailed for life with a minimum sentence of 26 years.

His son, Nico, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years.