The sickening abuse of our overwhelmed asylum system threatens you and your family and has cost many innocent lives over the past few years since the EU migration crisis began in 2015/16 (see the Annex below for list of 11 crimes committed since 2016 by asylum abusers).
The government’s first duty is to keep people safe. Yet the shocking murder last year of a young man in Bournemouth by an illegal migrant has revealed how those in charge are failing to protect the public.
Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai was found guilty of murdering aspiring Royal Marine Thomas Roberts in Bournemouth last year.
The assailant posed as a child – lying about his age – to remain here after he killed two people in Serbia. He claimed to UK authorities that he was 14 despite being 18 at the time, leading to his placement alongside young girls at a school.
The key issues that this incident raises are:
- The deliberate destruction of identity documents by those coming in boats (often at the behest of traffickers) and the inability of authorities to properly screen those coming in (see summary and the briefing paper which revealed 98% of those coming in on boats have no passport).
- The UK as a last-resort magnet for failed asylum claimants from all over Europe – see this summary and this recent press release.
- The problem of asylum age fraud – nearly half of resolved age disputes found to be lying about age – read more in this paper.
- The government’s vaunted solution of fast-tracking claimants of certain nationalities to tackle the asylum backlog should be dropped as it is really a de-facto ‘amnesty’ for those entering without permission that would make the threat much worse (see media article)
The public are rightly concerned. Violent crimes are an outcrop of our failing and chaotic asylum system. They happen time and again and nothing is done to stop them:
- There was the horrific murder of seven-year-old Emily Jones in Bolton by a failed asylum seeker in March 2020.
- In June 2022, there was a brutal triple stabbing in a Reading park by a failed Libyan asylum seeker who the government had granted temporary leave to remain despite having criminal convictions and being in a terrorist group.
- There was the murder of 32-year-old Lorraine Cox in Exeter in September 2020 by a failed asylum claimant.
- And an asylum fraudster injured a man when he blew himself up outside a Liverpool hospital in 2021.
The government has long been aware of the loopholes that helped lay the pathway for these crimes, including the outrage that led to the tragic death of Mr Roberts. However, it failed to act.
In 2021, we revealed the fact that 98% of those crossing in boats have no passports – with many destroying their documents – making it impossible for authorities to know who is coming, or to verify whether they have committed crimes elsewhere.
We’ve also long spoken about the threat posed by those pretending to be children in a bid to improve their asylum chances. For example, an illegal entrant exploded a bomb on a London tube train six years ago after being able to stay in the country after lying about his age. Why weren’t the proper lessons learned?
The culprit of the latest crime was rejected for asylum in Norway before coming here.
The fact is that the UK has become a magnet for failed asylum seekers from all over Europe due to our lax rules. France rejects applicants at nearly three times the rate we do. The UK is a soft touch. No wonder illegal boat arrivals have shot up.
With 100,000 people streaming in on makeshift dinghies and illegal lorries since January 2018, the lack of secure borders is making you and your family less safe.
Unless things change, it is only a matter of time before another crime like this happens again. As the political class sneers at the public’s overwhelming desire for controlled immigration, it is innocent people that will pay the cost for their woeful and negligent failure.
Annex
The most recent crime was not an isolated incident but part of a more worrying pattern. Violent crimes are now a depressing part and parcel of the UK’s completely avoidable immigration and asylum chaos. Asylum fraudsters commit horrific and savage crimes yet little is done afterwards to learn lessons and fix the problem.
Here are 11 other examples, in chronological order by date of crime:
- An asylum fraudster injured a man when he blew himself up outside a Liverpool hospital in November 2021
- There was the murder of 32-year-old Lorraine Cox in Exeter in September 2020 by a failed asylum claimant.
- A Sudanese asylum seeker – Badreddin Abadlla Adam – stabbed six people, including a police officer, while on a violent rampage in a hotel in Glasgow in June 2020.
- In June 2020, there was a brutal triple stabbing in a Reading park by a failed Libyan asylum seeker who the government had granted temporary leave to remain despite having criminal convictions and being in a terrorist group.
- There was the horrific murder of seven-year-old Emily Jones in Bolton by a failed asylum seeker in March 2020.
- An Afghan asylum seeker – Samiulahaq Akbari – tried to murder a complete stranger in Thornton Heath, London while ‘fuelled’ by a desire to kill English people. He was convicted of attempted murder over the rampage which took place on 8 January 2019, just 12 days after he was released from prison for another assault.
- Kuwaiti hit and run driver – Hadi Hamid – who nearly killed two teenagers in Middlesbrough in October 2017 after ploughing into them with his car (and leaving them with life-changing injuries) was allowed to stay in the UK – even though his refugee status was revoked. Hamid was sentenced to four years behind bars in February 2018 and was ordered to be deported, yet he was released from prison in October 2019.
- Many people were injured when an illegal entrant exploded a bomb on a London tube train in September 2017 after being able to stay in the country after lying about his age.
- Rachid Redouane – one of the perpetrators of the June 2017 London Bridge attacks, in which 11 people were killed and 48 injured (21 critically) – was a Moroccan-born failed asylum seeker. After having his 2009 claim for asylum rejected, he remained here before going on to live in Ireland three years later. He then returned and (alongside two others) committed the attack.
- “Officials missed six chances to kick illegal immigrant Hani Khalaf out of Britain before he murdered a carer. The 22-year-old Egyptian bludgeoned Jairo Medina, 62, to death in London’s Hyde Park in August 2016 for his mobile phone and a few pounds. Khalaf was free to live in the UK despite falsely claiming to be a Syrian refugee when he arrived in Kent two years earlier hidden in a lorry. The career criminal had previously been arrested at least six times for theft and fraud, but was released rather than deported as he repeatedly lied about his identity.
- [Undated] A Somalian double rapist was allowed to stay in the UK on human rights grounds after a judge said he would face ‘degrading’ treatment in his home country due to his mental health. The 49-year-old arrived in Britain in 2004 and claimed asylum, but he amassed eight convictions in the space of six years. Robbery, trying to pervert the course of justice. Raping two different women were among his offences (source, February 2021 article, Mail Online).