The new figures reveal the Saudi Arabians to be the most frequent offenders. He was finally cleared at the Old Bailey in July 2003 after he waived his diplomatic immunity. Soto-Mendoza was accused of hunting down and killing a man who mugged his son, and stabbing him to death in a supermarket car park after a chase. The South American country's military attache was prosecuted only after massive behind-the-scenes pressure was put on his government. It also comes after the 2003 case of a Colombian diplomat, Sergeant Major Jairo Soto-Mendoza, accused of murder. But the immunity system put him out of reach of British justice. The Saudi embassy promised a thorough investigation and a trial for the man in Saudi Arabia if the claims had foundation. It follows the case of a 41-year-old Saudi diplomat suspected of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl in London - which police had no power to investigate. The move comes amid growing calls for the centuries-old conventions of diplomatic immunity to be scrapped or altered.īritain has been embroiled in a series of long-running inter-national rows over our rights to prosecute envoys charged with crimes. The Foreign Office published the details under the Freedom of Information Act despite initially claiming the disclosure was 'likely to prejudice relations between the UK and other states'.Īnd last week Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she intended to publish an annual list of diplomatic criminality. The list shows between 19 foreign officials were accused of 122 criminal offences. The catalogue of offences attributed to the envoys - whose diplomatic immunity prevents them being prosecuted - was revealed for the first time last week.
Foreign diplomats have been accused of a string of rapes, sexual assaults, child abuse and murder while working at embassies in Britain.
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