- Obert Moyo, 46, had overstayed his visa when he attacked Perseverance Ncube
The family of a murder victim have told of their anger after discovering her killer was an illegal immigrant who should have been deported 20 years ago.
Zimbabwean-born Obert Moyo (46) was able to remain in this country despite three previous attacks on women.
He was last week sentenced to life with a minimum term of 27 years for stabbing his former partner Perseverance Ncube, 35, through the heart with a foot long meat skewer in front of her children, aged ten and 12.
When he was convicted, it emerged that the jealous Moyo had overstayed his visa in the early 2000s and had committed crimes against women before the murder in Salford.
Mrs Ncube was an Avon lady 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 former partner Perseverance Ncube, 35, through the heart with a foot-long meat skewer in front of her children, aged ten and twelve
Zimbabwe-born Moyo has been jailed for 27 years. Following his conviction, it emerged that he had overstayed his visa and had committed other serious crimes against women prior to the murder in Salford.
She added: 'I was very angry and upset because this whole tragedy could have been avoided if people had done their job properly.
'We all felt very let down by the Home Office and the people who should have ensured that he was deported.'
Mrs Chiriseri, who cares for the children, said: 'I am reeling from everything that has happened.
'I'm trying to put the whole situation behind me, but I'm still trying to process and understand what happened.
'I still feel very angry. It was a short-term relationship and it cost my sister her life.” Moyo, who admitted murder, had been convicted of harassing women in 2007 and 2009, the latter leading to a six-month prison sentence.
In 2013 he was jailed for 10 years on extended license for assaulting another ex-partner in Brighton.
The victim was working in a care home when Moyo broke in through a window by 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 convicted of malicious wounding, threatening to kill and aggravated burglary.
Upon his release, the Ministry of the Interior provided him with a label, rather than deporting him for 'overstaying'.
The murder trial at Manchester Crown Court heard Moyo failed to tell his probation officer as part of his license conditions that he had started a new relationship with Ms Ncube, a single mother with jobs as a childminder and accountant.
Moyo forced his way into Ms 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 spokesperson said: 'The government is doing everything it can to reduce legal challenges and increase the number of foreign offenders removed.'