Revealed: 200 asylum hotel residents charged with crimes this year

Telegraph

7 hours ago

At least 200 people living in asylum seeker hotels have been charged with criminal offences this year, without police revealing their immigration status, The Telegraph can disclose.
Court records show that 211 people living in the hotels, which are used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers, have been charged with a combined 425 offences.
Of these, 109 were violent offences and 44 were sexual offences, including four counts of alleged rape. There were also 63 theft-related offences.
The Telegraph analysed court records linked to 50 known asylum hotels. There are more than 200 such sites across the UK used to house those seeking asylum, with still more asylum seekers housed in private rentals.
Not every defendant who lists one of these hotels as their place of residence is necessarily an asylum seeker. It has not been possible to establish how many of the alleged offenders identified by The Telegraph are currently applying for asylum in the UK.
Nevertheless, The Telegraph's findings offer a sense of the numbers of asylum seekers who may be involved in crime.
It came as migrants continued to arrive in the UK after crossing the English Channel on the day a ' one in, one out ' deal with France came into force.
Under a pilot scheme that took effect on Wednesday, adults arriving on a small boat can be detained and returned to France for the first time in an effort to limit arrivals. This is in exchange for an approved asylum seeker in France to be brought to the UK under a safe route.
On Wednesday, the Conservative Party also set out proposals under which asylum seekers who had been caught working illegally would have their claim automatically rejected and face immediate deportation, either to their country of origin or to a safe third country.
All wages gained from the individual working illegally would be seized and used to cover the cost of any asylum support they received.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said this week that police should reveal more information about suspects, and that guidance to police was already being looked at.
But she added it was an 'operational decision' for forces and the Crown Prosecution Service over what information to release.
Police are under pressure to routinely disclose the nationality and migration status of suspects to protect community cohesion and to address a perception among some groups that asylum seekers are carrying out a disproportionate number of offences.
On Tuesday, Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that ministers wanted the public to have more detail about those charged, adding: 'We do think the guidance needs to change.'
The Law Commission is expected to issue new guidance in the coming months that would allow nationality and asylum status to be disclosed if it is in the public interest to do so.
While the majority of hotels had one or two residents charged with criminal offences, there were some with significantly more. Residents at the Holiday Inn, Empire Way, in Wembley were charged with 28 offences in the time period, while those at the Holiday Inn Express in Oxford and the Derby Midland Hotel had been charged with a combined 24 offences.
In Epping, protests broke out last month after reports that an Ethiopian asylum seeker, Hadush Kebatu, had been charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl eight days after arriving in the UK. He has denied wrongdoing.
Mr Kebatu is not the only Bell Hotel resident to face serious criminal charges. In April, another man appeared before Chelmsford magistrates' court charged with two counts of arson with intent to endanger life. The case was sent to Chelmsford Crown Court for a plea hearing on 5 May.
In addition to Mr Kebatu, the review of court reports linked to 50 migrant hotels identified seven other individuals charged with a combined further 11 sex offences against children.
These included the alleged rape of a girl aged 13 to 15; six counts of making child abuse material; two counts of attempting sexual communication with a child; an attempt to meet a girl under 16 after grooming; and one count of possessing child abuse material.
In another case, a warrant was issued in June for a 24-year-old resident of a Liverpool migrant hotel accused of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.
The man, who had failed to appear at Sefton magistrates' court on June 20 for his trial, allegedly sent numerous WhatsApp messages to a child under 16. According to court records, he arranged to meet the child, told her he loved her, and expressed desires to 'lay down with her and kiss and cuddle her'. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Sexual crimes against adults made up 32 of the offences reviewed by The Telegraph.
The court records suggest that a significant proportion of these offences are alleged to have been perpetrated against other apparent asylum seekers. In some cases, bail conditions stipulate that the defendant cannot enter into another hotel used by the Home Office as this is where the alleged victim lives. In others, there is a marital relationship between the alleged perpetrator and victim.
In one case, before a court in the north of England last month, a resident of a hotel housing asylum seekers was accused of strangling and suffocating his wife.
A further 49 hotel residents were charged with 109 violent offences, including 40 counts of assault by beating, 19 of assaulting emergency workers, five of actual bodily harm, 10 of common assault and five of intentional strangulation.
In one case, a 24-year-old man living in a Bournemouth hotel allegedly threatened another person with a snooker cue. He was granted unconditional bail and is due to appear at Poole magistrates' court on Aug 6 for a plea hearing. A Kurdish interpreter will attend.
In another, heard on May 19, a 24-year-old asylum seeker was handed a suspended sentence at Chelmsford magistrates' court after admitting affray.
Magistrates cited Sohaib Atem's 'strong personal mitigation' and 'realistic prospect of rehabilitation' in suspending an eight-month prison term for 12 months.
A frequent complaint from residents living near asylum hotels is a rise in theft. Of the 63 theft offences residents in the 50 hotels were alleged to have committed, 14 were burglary offences and 37 were thefts from shops.
Among them was Mamukr Kvaratskhelia, 39, who also appeared at Chelmsford magistrates' court in March charged with five counts of theft over a three-month period.
He is accused of stealing designer sunglasses and fragrance worth more than £2,000, including £299 Ray-Bans from John Lewis and four pairs of glasses worth £1,165 from a local optician.
Twelve hotel residents were charged with criminal damage. In one case, Akhmed Mohammad, formerly housed at Wethersfield asylum centre in Essex, was ordered to pay £380 for damaging a lavatory window in a car park. Mohammed was given until Sept 5 to pay the total amount, with magistrates citing his 'good previous character, low means and circumstances' in their decision.
'Police are in invidious position'
Philip Seccombe, the Warwickshire police and crime commissioner, has pressed Ms Cooper for an urgent update on what information forces should give to the public after allegations that authorities tried to cover up alleged offences by asylum seekers.
Mr Seccombe called for fresh national guidance to be issued after the charging of two men – reported to be Afghan asylum seekers – prompted accusations that the force withheld information about their immigration status.
The pair are accused of raping of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton.
Mr Seccombe said: 'Currently, police forces are in an invidious position when deciding what can and should be disclosed in sensitive cases, given that the national guidance is silent on both the ethnicity and immigration status of suspects.
'It is very easy to criticise and suggest that the balance of disclosure hasn't been correct, but it is much harder to take these decisions on the ground.'