THE man who murdered a Worcester decorator in a frenzied knife attack could be deported to his home country in three years.

Portuguese national Joao De Oliveira is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of the brutal murder of 56-year-old John Lloyd.

He was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years, but current laws mean the 34-year-old cannot be made to return and the Portuguese prisons cannot be forced to accept him, leaving British taxpayers to foot the bill.

Now your Worcester News has exclusively learnt that a new EU ruling will mean De Oliveira can be sent back to Portugal, where he grew up, to finish his sentence.

Once De Oliveira has served his time, a deportation order could be made banning him from entering the country for up to 10 years.

Mike Foster, MP for Worcester, was told by the Ministry of Justice that De Oliveira will become eligible to be sent back to Portugal in 2011.

"Paying for Mr De Oliveira to spend a lifetime in a British prison would cost us a fortune," said Mr Foster.

"It now seems we can ship him back once the new agreement comes into force in 2011."

John Lloyd's sister Linda Rimell, aged 59, of Pershore, said she would rather De Oliveira served his time here than be sent to Portugal fearing that he could be released early.

"I just do not trust what the other countries in the EU do," she said.

"Unless they can give me a guarantee, I would rather pay my taxes and know he is here and serving his time for what he did to John."

The new Prisoner Transfer Agreement between members of the EU will mean prisoners can be transferred, without their consent, to the EU country in which they are normally a resident.

It will be the duty of the receiving state to accept back its nationals.

As previously reported in your Worcester News, De Oliveira was convicted in March of murdering Mr Lloyd in his Windermere Drive flat on January 13 last year. The frail painter and decorator had been stabbed 68 times.

During his trial at Worcester Crown Court it was revealed De Oliveira had attacked a woman in Germany and left her to die in a bathtub. He was charged with murder, but convicted of the lesser crime of "grievous bodily harm leading to a death," and sentenced to four years in prison.

After his conviction a German court made a 10-year deportation order against him. Once released after serving two thirds of his sentence, he sought refuge in England.

Mr Foster did not know if Judge Alistair McCreath's direction of 25 years in jail before being considered for release would be upheld by a Portuguese prison.

"There should be no advantage of going back to Portugal, it would not be a softer option," he said.

Under current deportation laws De Oliveira will never be completely banned from Britain but Mr Foster said he was looking to change this.

"If there is a national security concern then free movement is suspended, I have asked for a change in this definition to include broader public policy concern," he said.