Police ‘cover-up' of Afghan asylum seekers accused of raping girl
Ahmad Mulakhil was charged with rape and Mohammad Kabir with the kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting a rape of the girl in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Police allegedly told local politicians and officials not to reveal the background of the suspects for fear of 'inflaming community tensions'.
Mulakhil, who crossed the English Channel on a small boat, allegedly raped the victim at a house on the evening of July 22. CCTV footage from nearby allegedly shows a man walking with a white girl 30 minutes before the alleged rape, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Mulakhil was arrested on July 26 and appeared at Coventry magistrates' court two days later. Kabir was arrested on Thursday and appeared in court on Saturday. The men, both aged 23, were remanded in custody to appear at Warwick crown court on August 26.
Both men live in rented houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) on adjoining streets. Each provides accommodation for about five asylum seekers. The properties are managed by Serco, which has a £1.9 billion Home Office contract to accommodate applicants for refugee status.
• A day at asylum court shows why decisions are so painfully slow
Details of the alleged rape were not revealed by police until after the court appearances of the defendants. The names of the roads where the men lived, which are normally disclosed, were kept secret.
One official claimed police feared Nuneaton would face protests similar to those at a migrant hotel in Epping, Essex, last month after an asylum seeker was charged with sex offences relating to a girl aged 14.
There were clashes on Saturday between protesters and counter-protesters outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington, north London, which is being used to house asylum seekers. Four people were arrested during similar protests outside the New Bridge Hotel in Newcastle.
George Finch, leader of Warwickshire county council and a Reform party politician, has written to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Alex Franklin-Smith, the chief constable of Warwickshire, complaining about a 'cover-up'.
He asked the Home Office to 'immediately remove and rehouse all asylum seekers currently living in HMOs in Warwickshire'.
Finch wrote: 'Our local community has had enough of the Home Office breaking planning regulations to turn sections of local communities into unrecognisable, ghetto-like zones.'
He said local people were able to 'join the dots' to find that Mulakhil was an asylum seeker after his name was published in the local media and he was told by the county council's chief executive that Kabir 'was an asylum seeker living in an HMO'.
Finch claimed a 'cover-up' of the defendants' immigration status 'risks public disorder breaking out on the streets of Warwickshire'.
Writing about the rioting that occurred following the murders of three girls in Southport, he said: 'I am disgusted that one year from the social unrest that we saw in parts of the UK in 2024, the Home Office and police have clearly not learned the lessons from the handling of similar incidents last year.'
Sir Andy Cooke, HM chief inspector of constabulary, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that police 'should not be caught off-guard again' in relation to the Southport riots. He said the 'tools that amplified hatred last summer remain largely unchanged and unregulated'.
Warwickshire police defended its position, saying in a statement: 'When something significant happens, we brief these partners and local elected officials on the circumstances of the crime, the investigation, the work being undertaken to arrest those responsible and how local people and partners can help a concerned community.
'Where relevant, sensitive information around locations, details of the crime and policing activity to catch offenders can be shared, with a warning that this is sensitive or confidential information and disclosure by those being briefed could affect future court hearings.
'Once someone is charged with an offence, we follow national guidance. This guidance does not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status.'
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, wrote on social media 'This is beyond politics. Illegal migration is destroying lives and blighting our country. Keep our women and girls safe.'
The government announced in April that asylum seekers will be denied the right to stay in the UK if they have been convicted of sexual offences.
Chris Watkins, the Labour leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council, and Philip Seccombe, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Warwickshire, have been contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
5 minutes ago
- Times
Symbolic gestures won't prevent illegal working
T he Home Office's latest move to crack down on illegal working in the gig economy feels more like political theatre than a serious solution. Announcing a plan to share data with food delivery businesses such as Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats, specifically around asylum hotel locations, sounds bold on paper. But in reality, it is unlikely to achieve much. The government wants these companies to flag and cancel accounts repeatedly active in 'high-risk' areas. But this relies on the flawed assumption that such monitoring will deter or even detect illegal workers. It won't. The simple fact is that account sharing is incredibly easy to get around. More information will be shared with food delivery companies such as Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo ALAMY And the reality is that these companies do not have a genuine incentive to stop it. Unlike traditional employers, they are not subject to a penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker. So why would they invest in better checks or policing their own systems? The simple fact is that gig economy companies do not know who is using their apps, and who is engaging with their customers under their brand name, making illegal work easy, effortless and undetectable. If ministers were serious about tackling this issue, they would demand more — facial recognition or real-time identity verification every time a job is accepted could make a real difference. Illegal workers simply would not be able to operate. But until that's mandated, and until companies face real consequences, nothing will change. Worryingly, the issue does not end with gig economy firms. There is a troubling lack of understanding among traditional employers about their own compliance risks. Since 2022, businesses have been allowed to use digital verification services for right to work checks on British and Irish nationals. But many are using the same checks for foreign workers without realising that doing so leaves them legally exposed. Employers are surprised to learn that they are not establishing the all-important statutory excuse for their foreign workers. Large organisations — including NHS trusts, local authorities, universities and household organisations — are unknowingly putting themselves at risk. They believe using digital verification is enough — but it does not give them the legal protection they think it does. When foreign workers lose their right to work, or even exceed their permitted hours, employers are shocked to be slapped with penalties from the Home Office. Both the gig economy and traditional employment are riddled with loopholes. And while the government focuses on symbolic gestures such as data sharing, illegal work will continue, unchecked and undetected. If this crackdown is to mean anything, there needs to be more enforcement, starting with the government holding the platforms and third-party providers accountable. Emma Brooksbank is a partner at the law firm Freeths
Times
5 minutes ago
- Times
Samantha Yelland prosecuted Constance Marten and Mark Gordon
Samantha Yelland, a solicitor, was the senior crown prosecutor and reviewing lawyer in the prosecution of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, who were convicted of the manslaughter of their baby daughter after a lengthy and chaotic retrial at the Old Bailey, which the judge accused them of trying to 'sabotage' and 'derail'. The first time this case was tried, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the most serious charge of manslaughter. Given there was no definitive cause of death or much of the usual evidence we rely on in homicide cases, we had to think creatively about what alternative evidence we could use. At the retrial, we were able to combine witness testimony and expert evidence, including analysis of weather data at the time of the offence. Becoming a trainee supervisor. I've experienced first-hand how the training you receive early on shapes your future career. It's important to me to help to give lawyers starting out in their careers the best start possible. All my fellow females striving to ensure equality in our profession. When I started there were hardly any female judges. Now, they make up half of all the judges at the Central Criminal Court. And most of my colleagues in the homicide unit are female. Read everything. I was once providing telephone advice to someone arrested for shoplifting. She was somewhat inebriated and, forgetting who she was speaking to, ended the call with 'bye, love you'. Ultimately this job is about victims of crime and their loved ones. The best and the worst bits of my day depend on whether they feel that justice has been achieved. A power for judges to impose extra time on top of a defendant's sentence if they were deemed to have unnecessarily wasted the court's time. • Read more law stories and insights from our experts I love a musical so it would have to be Times Law is taking a three-week break and returns on September 4
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Sheep pushed off cliff at popular tourist location
Police are investigating the death of a sheep that was allegedly chased over a cliff edge in Cornwall. The incident took place on 27 July in the Polly Joke area near Newquay. A man and two teenage children are suspected of being involved in chasing the animal. Members of the public confronted a suspect, who was reported to be aggressive. Devon and Cornwall Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward with any information regarding the incident.
