Mr. Cunliffe to be deported back to Britain
Mr. Cunliffe to be deported back to Britain Reuters

A British man, dubbed the 'Silence of the Lambs rapist' is to be deported back to the United Kingdom after Australian immigration officials ruled the man had violated his visa terms after staying in the country after his release from prison. Leslie Neil Cunliffe was convicted of raping a woman in Geelong, near to Melbourne, in 1999 and was freed in April after serving twelve years of his twenty year sentence.

At his trial, the garage in which Leslie Neil Cunliffe kept his victim was compared to a scene from the movie Silence of the Lambs.

The rape was one of the most harrowing in Australian history after the garage that his victim was detained in was found by Australian police officials. Mr. Cunliffe kept his victim locked in a garage where he tied her up, taped her mouth shut and raped her. Cunliffe also strapped a fake bomb to the woman as he filmed hostage videos demanding $1m from her family.

The harrowing case was brought to trial in 1999 after it had emerged the British born man had dressed up as a policeman, stopped the woman and later kidnapped her at gunpoint bringing her to his garage where he committed the heinous acts.

Mr. Cunliffe was released from jail in April and has been detained by immigration officials since. Local MP Darren Cheeseman says he has learned that Cunliffe had been detained by immigration officials and was being held in a Victoria detention centre. He was held for breaching his visa conditions which require that visitors be of good character. "Clearly being convicted of rape he is not of good character," Mr Cheeseman said.

The family of the victim have campaigned for Cuncliffe to be deported from the day he left prison in April and finally the convicted rapist will return to the United Kingdom. However, it is not known exactly when Cunliffe will be returned to Britain but Mr Chesseman said: "I think the family and the Geelong community will feel a great deal of relief that he is going to be deported and will never be in Australia again."