The Push for War Crimes Prosecutions Has Allowed Murderers to Remain in Britain

By Jon Silverman

Like Greville Janner, I too will not mourn the death in prison of Britain's only convicted Nazi murderer, Anthony Sawoniuk (A message to war criminals, November 9). The first time I encountered Sawoniuk, he was clutching a piece of metal pipe and threatening to "knock my f-ing head off". This was outside his home in Bermondsey when, accompanied by a BBC cameraman, I confronted him with the evidence of his crimes which I had gathered in Belarus. The then attorney-general, John (now Lord) Morris, later told me that that was the moment, broadcast on the BBC evening news, at which he decided to authorise the prosecution of Sawoniuk, having wavered over his age and supposed infirmity.

Lord Janner regrets that there were not more prosecutions under the 1991 War Crimes Act. So do I. But, unlike him, I have come to the conclusion that parliament made a serious mistake in passing that legislation and should have taken a different course in righting some of the most grievous injustices of the 20th century. The Thatcher government acted on the recommendation of the Hetherington-Chalmers inquiry to change the law to allow criminal prosecutions. Sir Thomas Hetherington and William Chalmers, both distinguished lawyers, considered other options and rejected them all. I believe they were wrong and that is why, pace Lord Janner, there are almost certainly Nazi murderers still living among us.

One of the alternatives considered and rejected was deprivation of citizenship. The inquiry concluded that deportation proceedings, "even if successful ... do not result in punishment". Really? Ask the 100 or so mainly eastern Europeans who, after decades of living in the United States, have had their citizenship revoked and been deported to countries from which they fled at the end of the war. One, a Ukrainian, was executed on his return in the mid-1980s. To be torn away, amidst the humiliating publicity of tribunal proceedings, from your family and community after half a lifetime is certainly punishment in my book.

The Hetherington-Chalmers notion that deportation proceedings "are likely to be lengthy and hold no guarantee of success" is indeed a curious one. It took so long for Szymon Serafinowicz, the first person to be charged under the War Crimes Act, to be brought to trial that by the time he reached the Old Bailey he had developed Alzheimer's. And, as Lord Janner points out, others, like Anton Gecas - a deserving case for retribution if ever there was one - escaped justice under the shelter of the law's delay.

Civil proceedings against some of the dozens of worthy cases would have enjoyed a greater prospect of success than criminal trials. Consider the balance sheet: of nearly 400 suspects investigated, only two were charged and one, Sawoniuk, convicted. In 259 cases, there was either insufficient evidence or the subject's health precluded a prosecution. Even if only 20% were guilty (a conservative estimate), that's more than 50 people who lived out their lives in tranquility, having taken part in the greatest act of mass murder of the 20th century. Despite the 1991 act, was Britain a haven for war criminals? The answer is self-evident.

· Jon Silverman is a former BBC correspondent who won a Sony Gold award for his reporting on war crimes.