A senior judge has asked why a Lithuanian sex offender was allowed into the UK when he had a previous conviction for raping a seven-year-old girl.
Lady Justice Hallett questioned immigration policy and asked if criminals with such serious convictions were let in like “just anyone”.
Her remarks came as lawyers for Victor Akulic challenged the life sentence handed to him at Maidstone Crown Court in February, after he was convicted of rape, assault and intmidation of a woman.
During argument, Lady Justice Hallett asked Akulic's barrister, Catherine Purnell, how he was allowed to enter the UK with such a serious conviction to his name.
The judge said: "He comes into this country with a conviction for raping a child. Do we let in just anyone, even if they have such a serious conviction?"
When Ms Purnell said Akulic is a Lithuanian national and Lithuania is now part of the European Union, Lady Justice Hallett retorted: "I appreciate that, but do we have to take in anybody, even if they have a conviction for raping a child."
Ms Purnell replied: "I'm afraid I don't know about that; it may be that if the authorities had known about that then something may have been done earlier.
"I do know it was very difficult for the prosecuting authorities to find out details of the offence."
Akulic, 44, of Sheerness, Kent, was initially ordered to serve at least eight-and-a-half years behind bars before he can apply for parole but the Appeal Court overturned the sentence, replacing it with imprisonment for public protection with a seven-year minimum term.
The court heard Akulic amassed a number of previous convictions in his native country before he came to the UK in early 2010.
In 1992, in Lithuania, he was convicted of assault causing grievous bodily harm, for which he received a seven-year jail term, and in 1997 he was handed a five-year jail term for another offence - which was unrecorded.
He was jailed for eight years in March 2001 for raping a seven-year-old girl and was released in February 2009.
Mr Justice Irwin, sitting with Lady Justice Hallett and Judge Warwick McKinnon QC, told the court Akulic committed his most recent crimes in England in August 2010.
He raped a woman and subjected her to three vicious assaults - including one in which he knocked her to the ground and stamped on her head - before trying to intimidate her following his arrest.
Ms Purnell accepted Akulic was a "dangerous offender", but the Appeal Court replaced his life sentence with less draconian imprisonment for public protection and reduced his minimum term to seven years.
Ms Purnell said Akulic is in the process of applying for a transfer to a prison in Lithuania, and told the court: "Hopefully he will not be a burden on the taxpayer too much longer."
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