- Obert Moyo, 46, had overstayed his welcome when he attacked Perseverance Ncube.
The family of a murder victim have told of their fury after discovering her killer was an illegal immigrant who should have been deported 20 years ago.
Obert Moyo, 46, born in Zimbabwe, had been able to remain in this country despite three previous attacks on women.
He was sentenced to life in prison last week with a minimum sentence of 27 years for stabbing his ex-partner Perseverance Ncube, 35, in the heart with a foot-long meat skewer in front of their ten- and 12-year-old children.
When he was sentenced, it emerged that a jealous Moyo had overstayed his visa in the early 2000s and committed crimes against women before the Salford murder.
Mrs Ncube was an Avon woman known as Percy. Her sister Christine Chiriseri, 28, said the family only discovered the killer was an illegal immigrant after his arrest.
Obert Moyo, 46, stabbed his ex-partner Perseverance Ncube, 35, in the heart with a foot-long meat skewer in front of their ten- and 12-year-old children.
Moyo, born in Zimbabwe, has been jailed for 27 years. After his conviction, it emerged that he had overstayed his visa and that he had committed other serious crimes against women before the Salford murder.
She added: “I was very angry and upset because this whole tragedy could have been avoided if people had done their jobs properly.”
“We all feel very let down by the Home Office and the people who should have made sure he was deported.”
Mrs Chiriseri, who looks after the children, said: “I am stunned by everything that has happened.
‘I’m trying to get over the whole situation, but I still have to process and understand what happened.
‘I still feel very angry. It was a short-lived relationship and it cost my sister her life.’ Moyo, who admitted the murder, had been convicted of harassing women in 2007 and 2009; the latter was sentenced to six months in prison.
In 2013, he was sentenced to ten years in prison with extended license for attacking another ex-partner in Brighton.
The victim was working at a nursing home when Moyo broke through a window, unscrewing it and burning it with a blowtorch.
Once inside and armed with numerous weapons, including two knives and a screwdriver, he repeatedly punched her, cut her with the knife and strangled her.
He was found guilty of malicious wounding, threats to kill and aggravated burglary.
After his release, instead of deporting him for “excessive stay”, the Ministry of the Interior slapped a label on him.
The murder trial at Manchester Crown Court heard that Moyo did not tell his probation officer, as part of his license conditions, that he had begun a new relationship with Ms Ncube, a mother single who works as a nanny and accountant.
Moyo forced his way into Ncube’s home on November 10 last year and attacked her in her bedroom before chasing her into the street and stabbing her.
Detective Sergeant Fiona Manning said: ‘Percy’s family deserve answers as to why this man… was allowed to remain in this country illegally. If Moyo had been deported, Percy’s children would still have a mother.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government is doing everything it can to reduce legal challenges and increase the number of foreign criminals being removed.”